By Esther Pollard
October 16, 2007
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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, like 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.
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 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. There are only private, self-serving interests of the same Israeli officials who abandoned and betrayed Jonathan 22 years ago. People like Ehud Barak, Rafi Eitan, or Shimon Peres, 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.
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