Pollard Longest-Held Living Captive Marks 8000 Days

Justice4JPnews - October 15, 2007

On Wednesday, 17 October 2007, 5 Chesvan 5768, Jonathan Pollard marks 8000
days in captivity:
- 8000 days in prison on behalf of Israel.
- 8000 days of abandonment and betrayal by Israel.
- 8000 days of cynical exploitation as a political prisoner by the USA.
- 8000 days of cruel and unusual punishment by the 'greatest democracy in
the world'.
- 8000 days as the same Israeli government officials responsible for
betraying him at the outset patiently wait for 'time and nature' to be the
'final solution' to the Pollard case .. G-d forbid!

A SHAMEFUL RECORD

8000 days in captivity sets a shameful record. Jonathan Pollard is the
longest-held Israeli captive who is known to still be alive. His survival in
captivity in America for 22 years - 8000 days this week - is Israel's
Teudat Oni ( badge of shame).

BACKGROUND ON THE POLLARD CASE:

+ Jonathan Pollard, is an Israeli agent in captivity, currently completing
his 22nd year of a life sentence for his service to the security of The
State of Israel.

+ The information that Jonathan provided to Israel included Iranian, Iraqi,
Libyan and Syrian nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare capabilities -
all being developed for use against Israel. He also provided information on
ballistic missile development by these countries and information on
up-coming terrorist attacks planned against Israeli civilian targets.

+ Israel was legally entitled to this vital security information according
to a 1983 Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries. But the
information was deliberately being withheld from Israel as the result of an
illegal intelligence embargo implemented by former Secretary of Defense
Caspar Weinberger and former Deputy Director of the CIA Admiral Bobby Ray
Inman, whose pro-Arab tilt did not jibe with declared US foreign policy.

+ In the beginning Jonathan volunteered his services and only later did he
become a bona fide agent on behalf of the State of Israel. His zeal to save
Israeli lives was his sole motivation. Even the sentencing judge - who was
no friend of the case - recognized that Jonathan was an ideologue, not a
mercenary, and therefore declined to impose a monetary fine.

+ From the time that Jonathan was first arrested in 1985, Israel denied all
ties to him, and cooperated fully with the American prosecution to secure a
life sentence for him.

+ For its own shameful reasons the American Jewish leadership endorsed and
perpetuated Israel's lies. On March 10, 1987 - six days after my husband was
sentenced to Life in complete violation of a plea agreement which Jonathan
honored and the US abrogated - the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish
Organizations sent a letter to the US State Department promising never to
interfere on his behalf. The Conference has kept that promise with religious
zeal. (A copy of their letter, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act
request, appears on our web site.)

+ Despite the passage of 22 years and innumerable opportunities, Israel's
lies continue to govern this case, and effectively to keep Jonathan in
prison.

+ Israel cravenly handed over to the US all of the evidence that was used
against Jonathan. Without this evidence, the US had no case, and would have
been forced to set him free.

+ In betraying Jonathan and by handing over the evidence, Israel earned for
itself the dishonorable distinction of becoming the first and only country
in the history of modern espionage ever to assist in the indictment and
prosecution of its own agent !

+ Israel paid the lawyer who secured a life sentence for Jonathan, without
benefit of trial. The median sentence for the offense Jonathan had committed
was 2 to 4 year sentence - not Life!

+ This was the same lawyer, paid by the Government of Israel, who failed to
file a simple Notice of Intent to Appeal, forever depriving Jonathan of his
right to appeal his Life sentence.

+ By contrast, to this day Israel has steadfastly refused to pay a cent to
the lawyers who, unlike the above-mentioned lawyer, are trying to help
Jonathan to secure his release from prison.

+ Even though Jonathan fought and succeeded in forcing the State of Israel
to officially acknowledge him as her agent, the State's attitude towards him
and its resolute abandonment of him has not changed at all in 22 years.

+ The State of Israel has never taken the most minimal steps - legal, moral,
or diplomatic to secure Jonathan's release.

+ To this day, Israel has never officially informed the White House, the
Justice, Intelligence or State Departments that Jonathan is an Israeli agent
and that Israel intends to seek his release. Consequently the American
Justice Department continues to regard him only as a common criminal, not as
an Israeli agent, and to treat him accordingly.

+ To this day the State of Israel has never sought the assistance of
American congressmen or senators on Jonathan's case, and for 2 decades it
has calculatedly avoided engaging AIPAC or any other effective lobby
organization on his behalf.

+ In 22 years, Israel has never done any hasbara for the public in Israel or
in the US to explain its position on Jonathan's case or to promote his
release - as it routinely does to explain every other matter of importance
to the State.

+ For 22 years, the State of Israel has deliberately attempted to prevent
the Israeli public from knowing about Jonathan. A good indicator of the
Government's attitude towards Jonathan is reflected in the Ministry of
Education's refusal to include his plight in the regular school curriculum.
The Ministry of Education Library and Archives (which teachers use for
research) contains absolutely no information whatsoever about Jonathan! Not
a single reference!

+ When Jonathan's former handler, Rafi Eitan, ran for Knesset earlier this
year, it put the lie to the Government's long-standing claim that pressing
for Jonathan's release might somehow damage Israel's relationship with the
US. Indeed the Government of Israel demonstrated no compunction whatsoever
about possible damage to US-Israel relations or to Jonathan's situation when
immediately upon his election, it appointed Rafi Eitan as a minister

+ The Government's appointment of Eitan as minister was done with the full
knowledge that the Americans regard Eitan as an unindicted co-conspirator in
the affair and that he had played a key role in the betrayal of Jonathan
Pollard, even providing false testimony to the Americans which had doomed
Jonathan.

+ From the time Jonathan was first arrested, the only consistent "plan"
Israel has ever had for his release is to bring him home in a coffin. This
fact has been confirmed for us over and over again for the last 22 years by
various officials and events.

+ Jonathan miraculously survived the first 7 years of his incarceration in
solitary confinement, in barbaric conditions in a dungeon cell 3 stories
underground at USP Marion and then waged his own battle - without any help
from the State of Israel - to be moved to open population at FCI Butner.

+ Just shortly after his move to FCI Butner in the spring of 1993, Israel
sent a Mossad agent to Jonathan on official business. Instead of presenting
Jonathan with a plan for securing his release, the Mossad agent came armed
with an official request that Jonathan kill himself. "Committing suicide,"
Jonathan was informed, would "solve the Pollard problem" for the State of
Israel.

+ The Israeli policy which wants to bring Jonathan Pollard home in a coffin,
G-d forbid, continues to this day, and illuminates the Israeli Government's
calculated consistency in missing every opportunity to secure Jonathan's
release.

+ Instead, successive Governments of Israel have routinely exploited
Jonathan's name and his plight, using it as a sweetener to sell unpopular
unilateral concessions to the Israeli public. But when crunch time comes,
Jonathan is always dropped from every deal and painful unilateral
concessions to the enemy are made regardless. (Some examples include the
Hebron Accords, the Wye Accords, and most recently the Disengagement from
Gaza and northern Samaria).

+ In Washington it is an open secret that Jonathan's sentence is grossly
disproportionate and purely political. This was confirmed in a 2002
interview with former Secretary of Defense, the late Caspar Weinberger.
Weinberger openly admitted that Jonathan's case was a "minor matter" that
had been exaggerated out of all proportion to serve another political
agenda. The opening that this admission created to secure Jonathan's release
was totally ignored.

+ Similarly Dennis Ross, the former US Special Envoy to the Middle East,
stated in his book "The Missing Peace" (published in 2004) that Jonathan
deserves to be freed unconditionally. Nevertheless, writes Ross, Pollard is
far too valuable as a bargaining chip against Israel, so he advised the
president at Wye not to release him. Still no response from Israel.

+ In point of fact, Israel has already "paid" for Jonathan's release several
times over (including freeing 750 murderers and terrorists with blood on
their hands as part of the Wye Accords), but has never bothered to collect
its due.

+ In the 22 years that Jonathan has been in prison, he has repeatedly been
subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and severe affliction. The
Government of Israel has been informed of each and every episode of
mistreatment of its agent but has never once intervened on his behalf, nor
has the Government ever protested.

+ Jonathan's first court appearance in the US in 2 decades took place in the
year 2003. Israel did not even bother to send a representative. Instead, on
the eve of Jonathan's court hearing, Israel's consular representative in New
York who was given the task of officially responding to the media, slandered
Jonathan on American national television thus sending a clear message to the
judge that Jonathan is "hefker" and that no one in Israel cares what is done
with him.

+ Israel's intent never to bring Jonathan home alive, is reflected in the
immoral and mean-spirited way that the State relates to his wife, Esther.

+ As the wife of an Israeli agent, the fact that Esther remains homeless and
penniless speaks volumes about the State's attitude towards Jonathan.

+ Compare this with the case of an Israeli drug dealer, a family friend of a
Prime Minister, who was taken captive while pursuing his own illicit
interests, and not in the service of the State. Both his wife and his
mistress and their two respective families received full support for the
duration of his captivity. I on the other hand, receive no help whatsoever
and am dependent for my survival on the kindness of a few friends.

+ Worse still, the Government brazenly lies to the Supreme Court and to the
Israeli public when it repeatedly claims to be supporting Jonathan and
Esther financially. The Pollards presented documented proof to State
Comptroller Judge Micha Lindenstrauss that in 22 years, neither Jonathan nor
his wife have ever received a cent from the Government of Israel.
Unfortunately, like every other government official,Lindenstrauss chose to
sit on his hands.

+ The bottom line is that for 22 years, the State of Israel has stubbornly
denied granting Jonathan any status that would bring him or his wife any
assistance, or relief, or the possibility of securing his release.

+ Even though Jonathan fought for and obtained official recognition as an
agent, his name does not appear on the Ministry of Defense's list of
captives, thus depriving him of all of his rights as an agent in captivity.

+ The State also refuses to grant him status as a Prisoner of Zion, again
depriving him of any rights that might accrue and, more importantly,
depriving him of the protections this status would afford him.

+ By denying Jonathan status within the official framework governed by the
Ministry of Defense (as a Shavui); or by the Internal Affairs Ministry (as a
PoZ); the State of Israel has relegated Jonathan to the status of a person
who does not officially exist and who therefore, can effectively be ignored
to death.

WHY THE STATE OF ISRAEL IS IGNORING JONATHAN POLLARD TO DEATH

There is no great secret that Jonathan Pollard knows; no threat that his
release poses to any of Israel's national interests. On the contrary, his
return home would be a strong morale booster at this time for a beleaguered
Israeli People under bombardment by Kassam missiles, and continuously
pressured by America to uproot Israeli towns and release more and more
Palestinian murderers and terrorists.

Similarly, American officials, such as the former head of the CIA James
Woolsey, have confirmed that Pollard poses no threat to American national
security. Former US Special Envoy Dennis Ross has written that Pollard is
essentially a political prisoner who continues to be held as a high value
bargaining chip. In recent years, Ross has publicly called for Pollard's
release. (See Excerpts From "The Missing Piece": Dennis Ross )

Pollard himself has repeatedly signed documents for Israeli officials
agreeing to any conditions that would be imposed upon him curtailing his
right to interview or speak upon his release.

So why is Israel so unwilling to secure his release and bring him home even
after 22 years?

The answer is simple: self-interest on the part of Israel's highest ranking
officials in the political establishment and in the Defense Intelligence
community.

There are no Israeli national interests that would be threatened by
Jonathan's release. Only private interests, self-serving interests, of the
same Israeli officials who abandoned and betrayed Jonathan 22 years ago.
People like Ehud Barak, or Rafi Eitan, or Shimon Peres, just to name a few,
continue to prefer that Jonathan Pollard die in prison as if he were a
'casualty of war' in order to protect their own careers, their own
reputations and their own personal fund-raising abilities in the USA.

Unlike all other nations of the world where high-ranking government
officials come and go, in Israel the same immoral, self-serving politicians
and government officials who were responsible for running Jonathan as an
agent are still active in the Israeli government and in the Defense
Intelligence establishment at the highest levels. To this very day, no
matter how implausible, they continue to deny their involvement in the
operation and to cast all of the blame on Jonathan, as if he were an
independent entity and not tied to Israel.

Their death wish for Jonathan Pollard, and the efforts that they have
expended to realize it, represent an indelible stain upon the moral fabric
of the State. It is in essence 22 years of attempted murder! For the sake
of Nation and all of its captives and MIAs, the Jewish People must act
immediately to ensure that this evil plan not succeed.

Jonathan Pollard is Israel's longest-held living captive. This week he marks
8000 days in captivity. The time to bring him home is now. Before it is too
late.

For additional information, see also: www.JonathanPollard.org

The Facts Page
The Information Page
The Wye Double-Cross Page
Jonathan and the Judge: A Final Chapter in the Pollard Case? - Text of
Esther Pollard's Speech
FOIA Document: Conference of President's Letter to U.S. State Dept
What No One Wants to Talk About (Re: Israel's failure to lobby at all for
Pollard)
Caspar's Ghost - (Interview with Weinberger admission that Pollard case was
exaggerated out of all proportion): Edwin Black
Excerpts From "The Missing Piece": Dennis Ross
Terror in the US and The Jonathan Pollard Case
The Clemency Page
The Bagatz Page
Jonathan Pollard's Letter to the Families of the Captive Soldiers
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2006/082206.htm

--
JUSTICE FOR JONATHAN POLLARD
Website: http://www.JonathanPollard.org
RSS: http://www.JonathanPollard.org/rss.htm