Member of Knesset Shai: Peres didn’t betray Pollard
By GIL HOFFMAN The Jerusalem Post 09/30/2016 00:42
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Member-of-Knesset-Shai-Peres-didnt-betray-Pollard-469155

Shimon Peres cannot be faulted for failure to get an early release for
Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, the head of the Pollard Caucus in the Knesset,
Zionist Union MK Nachman Shai, said on Thursday.

Peres was prime minister at the time of Pollard’s 1985 arrest. He was aware
that Pollard was operating in the US, but when the FBI decided to make an
arrest, Peres did not alert staff at the Israeli Embassy in Washington to
ensure he would be let in. However, he did give documents to the US with
Pollard’s fingerprints that incriminated him.

In what was seen at the time as an effort to remove a lingering stain on his
career, Peres met with US President Barack Obama in Washington in June 2014,
six days before Pollard had a parole hearing. Peres vowed to the people of
Israel to take action for Pollard ahead of the hearing, and there were hopes
he could persuade Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence to time served,
enabling him to move to Israel.

“The entire nation is interested in releasing Pollard, and I am the emissary
of the nation,” Peres told reporters after the meeting. “I don’t think of
myself as Shimon. I am the representative of the State of Israel, and I
speak in the name of its people.”

After the meeting failed to result in an early release, Peres vowed to
“continue to work for Pollard’s release after I finish my term.”

In November 2015, Pollard was paroled for technical reasons after serving 30
years of a life sentence, but his life sentence continues on parole.

“Peres didn’t betray him,” said Shai, who met with Peres before he went to
Washington. “He made a genuine effort to get Pollard set free when he went
to Obama.”

Pollard and the campaign to bring about his release chose not to release any
statement about Peres. They also declined to respond to comments made on
Army Radio Thursday by Pollard’s former handler, Eitan.

“I decided to take full responsibility for the Pollard episode despite what
Peres said and chose not to say,” Eitan said.