US Jewish leaders meet with Pollard
By GIL HOFFMAN0 The Jerusallem Post 1/29/2012 07:14
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=255519

Two senior American Jewish leaders met with Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard
last week in what sources close to Pollard said would be the first of a
series of meetings of top Jewish leaders with the imprisoned spy.

American Jewish leaders ignored Pollard for most of his 26 years in prison
but over the past couple of years, urging US President Barack Obama to
commute his sentence to time served has become a consensus issue for
American Jewry.

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations chairman
Richard Stone and executive vice chairman Malcolm Hoenlein met with Pollard
and his wife, Esther, on Tuesday at his Butner, North Carolina, jail cell.
They did not reveal the meeting until they issued a press release on Friday.

“We returned with a renewed commitment to work for Mr. Pollard’s release
from incarceration in accordance with longstanding Conference policy,” the
two men said in the press release. “We see this as a serious humanitarian
issue as well as a legal matter. Mr. Pollard has expressed remorse, which he
persuasively reiterated in our two-hour discussion. He suffers from multiple
serious medical challenges, which we believe add urgency to the timeliness
of his release.”

Hoenlein briefed Pollard about his recent meeting with US Vice President Joe
Biden in which the Israeli agent’s case was discussed and efforts to
persuade Obama to take action on his behalf.

“Seeing him in person and dialoguing with him added significantly to our
conviction that his sentence should be quickly commuted,” Hoenlein and Stone
said. “Mr. Pollard made clear that he does not seek a pardon, recognizing
that he committed a crime, but seeks a commutation of his sentence. Mr.
Pollard wants only to be able to build a family and to be a contributing
citizen. He has said repeatedly and convincingly that he will not engage in
political activity.”

Stone and Hoenlein called upon the member organizations in their Jewish
umbrella group, religious leaders and individuals to work to secure Pollard’s
release.

Noting her husband’s deteriorating health, Esther Pollard called upon the
Jewish leaders to “please act now before it’s too late.”