Israel Matzav

European Union calls on the US to release Pollard

Would you believe that the European Union called on the United States to release Jonathan Pollard... in 1993? Here's the highlight of the statement:

D. whereas Pollard, who was not accused of treason, or of intending to harm the US, pleaded guilty under a plea bargain, and was thus convicted and sentenced, without a full trial, to life imprisonment, despite the Government's promise not to seek such a penalty,

E. noting that the sentence imposed on Pollard was grossly disproportionate to those imposed on others by US courts for supplying information to a friendly power (normally from two to four years),

F. shocked that most of Pollard's eight years in prison should have been spent in solitary confinement and underground,

G. astonished that Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger, described by one of his Under¬Secretaries for Defence as having had 'an almost visceral dislike of Israel', should have sent a message to the trial judge, one hour before the sentencing hearing, asking for the stiffest possible sentence commensurate with Pollard's 'treasonous' (sic) behaviour,

H. noting however that Mr Weinberger stated recently that he thought it was time that Mr Pollard should be released; aware that Christian and Jewish organizations throughout the world have pleaded for the harsh sentence of life imprisonment to be commuted and that Judge Steve Williams wrote, in a dissenting opinion to an appellate court finding, that 'the government's conduct in this case resulted in a complete miscarriage of justice',

My how times have changed....

And for those who are wondering, this plea is dated 16 September 1993. The Oslo Declaration of Principles was signed on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993.

Could it be... Pollard is being held hostage to the 'peace process'?

Labels: European Union, Jonathan Pollard, Middle East peace process, Oslo Declaration of Principles

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:19 PM