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Unprecedented Humanitarian Appeal by Rabbis to President Bush: Free Pollard

March 5, 2007
For Immediate Release
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The ongoing incarceration of Jonathan Pollard has prompted two leading international authorities on Jewish Law to make an urgent appeal to US President George W. Bush for clemency. The Israeli Torah sages, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (Jerusalem) and Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman (Bnei Brak), joined a chorus of notable Jews and non-Jews from a cross spectrum of society who have urged the President to consider Pollard’s plight and his remarkable long incarceration. Executive Clemency is Pollard’s only legal recourse as he has already exhausted his options in the American justice system after the Supreme Court declined to re-open his case last year.

In their unprecedented brief letter, the two Torah sages wrote: "We appeal to you as President of the greatest power on earth, the epitome of compassion and generosity, to grant clemency to Mr. Jonathan Pollard who has been incarcerated for more than twenty years."

Notable amongst the recent voices for Pollard’s release is the Council of Torah Sages of Agudath Israel of America that called on Jews to join in a 60-day "call-in campaign" to the White House, initiated by the National Council of Young Israel, under the leadership of Rabbi Pesach Lerner, its Executive Vice President, and in conjunction with the Rabbi Leib Geliebter Memorial Foundation. Callers are asked to urge the President to "end Pollard’s disproportionate incarceration by granting him clemency.” The call-in drive is sponsored by Comprehensive Network, Inc and enjoys the support of many national and regional Jewish organizations.

Rabbi Lerner says that it is encouraging that so many prominent Americans have joined the call for Pollard’s release, adding: “We must seize the moment to do everything in our power to end this incarceration which has gone on for too long. We are appealing to this country’s strong sense of justice to finally recognize that Pollard’s sentence is unprecedented in U.S. history and beyond any proportion to the original crime."

Upon discovering that information vital to Israel’s security regarding Iraqi and Syrian gas, chemical and biological warfare capabilities, and Soviet arms shipments to Arab countries, was being withheld, Pollard, a Jewish-American from South Bend, Indiana and a naval intelligence official, provided this information to Israeli officials. The information Pollard subsequently passed on to Israel is credited with allowing Israel to prepare civilians with gas masks and sealed rooms in the event of poison gas attacks, five years before the eventual attacks. Pollard was arrested and received a life sentence in 1986 after entering a plea bargain with American officials and pleading guilty to the crime of giving classified information to a friendly nation.

Pollard is the only person in the history of the United States to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally. The maximum sentence today for such an offense is 10 years and the median sentence for this offense is 2 to 4 years. Pollard entered his 22^nd year of a life sentence in prison in November 2006 in a federal penitentiary in Butner, North Carolina. Life sentences have previously been handed only to those individuals who are found guilty of spying for enemy countries.

Pollard’s time already served in jail has led legal experts and political figures to express their opinion that the sentence Pollard is serving outweighs the offense committed. Former New York City Mayor and former federal prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani said that "given the comparative sentences, after viewing documentation, [Jonathan Pollard’s] sentence is way beyond the sentences served by other people that have been convicted of the same crimes."

R. James Woolsey, who served under President Bill Clinton as CIA Director said that in "my view a 20 year sentence is enough and the close relationship between the United States and Israel as fellow democracies is also a consideration." (Israel National News, January 23, 2007). Dennis Ross, the top US Middle East negotiator under Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, commented that "Pollard has been in jail long enough and whatever facts he might know would have little if any effect on national security today."

Pollard has previously issued public apologies and expressed remorse for his actions. Dennis DeConcini, former U.S. Senator for Arizona and a former chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence committee has written that "I am convinced that Mr. Pollard has expressed the appropriate remorse and served adequate time."

"The 22-year period is significant," says Dr. Joseph Geliebter, Director of the Rabbi Leib Geliebter Memorial Foundation. "In Jewish Biblical tradition, 22 years was the period that Joseph was separated from his father, Jacob; the Talmud also indicates that during the 22^nd year of an unresolved matter there is Heavenly intervention (Tractate Ketubot, 42b; see commentary of Rashi)."

The National Council of Young Israel has urged Jews to call the White House switchboard between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (EST) at 202-456-1414 every day through the upcoming Passover holiday, the holiday celebrating freedom. Calls should continue through Passover to request Pollard’s freedom.