‘Why the reluctance?’

Recently, there has been an attempt to petition President Obama by concerned and sympathetic congressional Democrats for the commutation of Jonathan Pollard’s life sentence to time served. What went wrong that Republicans didn’t sign on or that more Democrats did not?

Why the ambivalence, the insecurity, and the reluctance of elected officials when Jewish organizations and the clergy demand justice?

Jonathan Pollard delivered crucial information to the Mossad in 1985 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1986, despite a plea bargain, which was abrogated by the United States for a sentence that carries two to four years.

Get The Jewish Standard Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Attempts by American Jewry and the Israeli government to free him have been unsuccessful.

Some 40 pages of sealed documents have been denied the review and inspection of his lawyers.

Previous claims and appeals as to the incompetence of his first lawyer and the time window whereby he could appeal have been denied by the Supreme Court.

Jonathan Pollard has been compared to the Yosef HaTzadik by HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu ztvk’l and called “The Litmus Test” of American-Israeli relations by his wife Esther.

To learn more about this issue, please go to the official Pollard website at: www.jonathanpollard.org and learn all you can about this horrid affair.