Israel Matzav

Incredible: Israel has never even asked for Pollard's release

This Tuesday Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser unwittingly said something very important about Israel’s handling of the Pollard affair in his testimony before the Knesset State Control Committee.

In response to numerous calls by the attending MK’s for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to formally request now that the United States free Jonathan Pollard, Hauser both confirmed that no Israeli Government has ever made an official request for Pollard's release.

And here is the bombshell: Hauser related that the entrenched government position never to formally request Pollard's release for over a quarter of a century has been solely out of some concern that submitting such a request might jeopardize efforts to gain his release.

Hauser suggested that if the MKs who are pressing for a formal Israeli request for Pollard’s release had access to classified information that could not discussed in open committee that they would understand why such a move might hurt Jonathan Pollard’s prospects of being freed.

That’s right.

The concern, according to Hauser, of generations of Israeli governments, was not that formally asking for the release of Jonathan Pollard might somehow have an unfavorable impact on Israeli interests, but instead what could, at best, be termed a paternalistic attitude: that they know how best to gain Pollard’s freedom and that actually requesting it isn't the right path.

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Hauser’s revelation is important because it makes clear that there is only one person in the world who would bear the risk of negative consequences should Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu formally request Jonathan Pollard’s release: Jonathan Pollard himself.

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And this week Jonathan Pollard reiterated that he is willing to bear the risks of whatever negative ramifications may result from Israel submitting a formal request for his release.

Pollard’s statement, combined with Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser’s testimony, strips away any possible justification for not immediately formally requesting Pollard’s release.

Labels: Jonathan Pollard, Knesset State Control Committee, Zvi Hauser

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:12 AM