NCYI Pres.: America Hypocritical on Pollard
Rabbi Pesach Lerner speaks about the hypocrisy inherent in the continued
incarceration of Jonathan Pollard. Pollard enters his 29th year of an
unprecedented life sentence on November 21, 2013.

By Yoni Kempinski, Ari Yashar - Arutz7 News – November 6, 2013

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of
Young Israel, spoke out Tuesday calling for Jonathan Pollard's release,
citing the hypocrisy of his imprisonment in America after revelations of
spying against US allies by the country's intelligence agencies.

In two weeks Pollard, who was accused of spying in the US for Israel, will
enter his 29th year in an American jail cell.

Rabbi Lerner said that especially now, after it has become clear that
America has been "spying on every country in the world, including and
specifically Israel" it is "ridiculous" to keep Pollard in jail for so long.

Lerner's comments refer to reports from Sunday which revealed that America
is spying on Israel, and particularly on "high priority Israeli military
targets."

America's spying on Israel follows discoveries that the National Security
Agency (NSA) has been monitoring the phone calls of 35 world leaders.

In contrast, Lerner noted that Pollard didn't pass along information about
America but rather about the military threats posed by Arab countries to
Israel.

The rabbi added that he feels some of Israel's MKs, governmental ministers
and President Shimon Peres forgot Pollard. According to him, they need to be
told "as long as Jonathan hasn't come home to Israel, apparently we haven't
done enough."

In August, after more than 10,000 days in an American prison, Pollard wrote
an opinion piece for the Jerusalem Post.

In the piece he referred to his own story, saying "Israel holds the world
record for betraying those who were loyal to it. It is the only country in
the world that ever willingly cooperated in a lawsuit against its
intelligence agent, refused to give him asylum, turned over documents to
incriminate him, denied knowing him and then allowed him to rot in prison
for decades."

US President Barak Obama visited Israel for the first time as president in
March, and was met by requests to free Pollard which went ignored.

Aside from spying on Israel, Obama's antagonism towards Israel and its
leaders have become even clearer with revelations this Tuesday that he
called Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a "pain in the a**" during his 2012
presidential campaign.

See Also

Video: Rabbi Pesach Lerner Calls for Pollard’s Immediate Release
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTyPq8fr1xg&feature=player

Jonathan Pollard Exclusive OpEd: Restoring Israel to Greatness
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Restoring-Israel-to-greatness-323271