Senior Politicians in Washington Call for Pollard’s Release

Arik Bender - Maariv – November 15, 2010

Translated to English by J4JP

Appeals to the President of the United States Barack Obama to grant clemency
to Jonathan Pollard continue to grow. Thirty-six members of Congress have
signed a petition which is slated to be delivered to the President this
Thursday, in which they entreat him to use his unlimited powers of executive
clemency to free the Israeli agent from prison.

The petition was the initiative of 4 Democrat House Reps: Barney Frank (MA),
Bill Pascrell (NJ) Ed Townes (NY) who is the head of the house oversight
committee and Anthony Weiner (NY) who is known for his long-time involvement
in the struggle for justice for Jonathan Pollard.

Weiner sent a letter to the then -Attorney General Albert Gonzales in June
of 2005 in which he wrote that that Pollard’s sentence was grossly
disproportionate and that Pollard’s constitutional rights had been violated.
In March 2008 Weiner wrote another letter to President Bush in which he
called upon the president to free Pollard.

An Act of Compassion

In the petition which will be delivered this week, the Congressmen wrote:

“We write to urge you to use your constitutional power to extend clemency to
Jonathan Pollard, thereby releasing him from prison after the time he has
already served.

“Such an exercise of the clemency power would not in any way imply doubt
about his guilt, nor cast any aspersions on the process by which he was
convicted. Those who have such views are of course entitled to continue to
have them, but the clemency grant has nothing to do with that.

“We believe that there has been a great disparity from the standpoint of
justice between the amount of time Mr. Pollard has served and the time that
has been served – or not served at all – by many others who were found
guilty of similar activity on behalf of nations that, like Israel, are not
adversarial to us.”

“Recently,” the Congressmen pointed out, “the US allowed a large number of
Russians, who had been spying on us for the country that had long been our
major adversary, to leave with no punishment whatsoever. This makes it very
hard for many to understand why Mr. Pollard should continue to serve beyond
the nearly twenty-five years he has already been in prison....It is
indisputable in our view that the nearly twenty-five years that Mr. Pollard
has served stands as a sufficient time from the standpoint of either
punishment or deterrence.”

In conclusion, the Congressmen wrote, “We see clemency for Mr. Pollard as an
act of compassion justified by the way others have been treated by our
justice system; as an act that will do nothing whatsoever to lessen our
defenses against espionage; and a step that far from hurting the national
security, could advance it by the impact it would have within Israel. We
urge you to use the clemency power in this case.”

See Also:

Senator Denis Deconcini Letter to President Obama: Free Jonathan Pollard
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/081910.htm
Conference of President's Letter to President Obama: Free Jonathan Pollard:
PDF http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/091310.pdf
Dr. Lawrence Korb (Former Assistant Secretary of Defense): Letter to
President Obama: Free Jonathan Pollard
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/092710a.htm
Message from Agudath Israel Re: Jonathan Pollard - New Initiative
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/100410.htm
NCYI Requests Clemency for Jonathan Pollard
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/100410a.htm
Message from the Orthodox Union Re: Jonathan Pollard: Letter Circulating in
House of Representatives http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/100510.htm
Our Brother in Butner: Hamodia Editorial
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/100610.htm
Urgent Action Is Called For In New Pollard Effort: Hamodia
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/100610a.htm
RAC: Urge Obama to Release Jonathan Pollard:
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/100610b.htm
Original media release announcing Congressional Petition for Pollard
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/101010.doc