Aussie group calls for Pollard’s release
AN AUSTRALIAN group has been formed to rally support for the release of long-serving US prisoner Jonathan Pollard, who has been incarcerated for more than 28 years after receiving a life sentence for spying for Israel.
AN AUSTRALIAN group has been formed to rally support for the release of long-serving US prisoner Jonathan Pollard, who has been incarcerated for more than 28 years after receiving a life sentence for spying for Israel.
The 59-year-old American Jew, who was involved in the espionage while working as a civil intelligence analyst in the US Navy, is believed to be the only convicted spy in US history to be sentenced to life imprisonment for spying for an allied country.
Melbourne lawyer Dean Ellinson, spokesperson for Australians for Pollard’s Release, said the group was formed recently after news that Pollard’s release was on the table as an American incentive in the Israel-Palestinian peace talks.
Hopes that Pollard would finally be released first rose, then fell as the negotiations faltered.
“The Australian group plans to engage at the political level and also at the community level,” Ellinson told The AJN, adding that there are plans to write to Pollard.
The Australians for Pollard’s Release committee includes psychiatrist Dr Mat Gelman and Alan Freedman, president of Australian Voices For Israel.
Ellinson said it is timely to reflect on Pollard’s imprisonment on the eve of Pesach and noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked that he be released before the first seder next week.
Pollard “did not act to harm American interests but only to secure Israel’s defence. He did not endanger any person’s life”, the Australian group stated.
“When he was apprehended, he faced charges of spying for a friendly country and entered a plea bargain with the prosecution which would have earned him a sentence of less than life imprisonment. In exchange, for giving up his important constitutional rights to contest the charges, Pollard was promised that the US would not seek the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.”
“Justice demands his release,” the group stated. “We call, at this time of erev Pesach, on shuls and those around seder tables to remember and pray for Jonathan Pollard.
“The sheer length of Pollard’s imprisonment is grossly inconsistent with sentences imposed by the American judicial system on any other person who committed similar offences. It is a travesty of justice.”
PETER KOHN
Jonathan Pollard with his wife Esther.
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