Israel Matzav

George Schultz urges Obama to free Pollard

Former US Secretary of State George Schultz has called on President Obama to release Jonathan Pollard.

I am writing to join with many others in urging you to consider that Jonathan Pollard has now paid a huge price for his espionage on behalf of Israel and should be released from prison.

I am impressed that the people who are best informed about the classified material he passed to Israel, former CIA Director James Woolsey and former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dennis DeConcini, favor his release.

I find the letter you received from former Attorney General Michael Mukasey of the Bush administration particularly compelling.

Schultz, it will be recalled, was Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan - the same administration in which Caspar Weinberger (who pushed for the heavy sentence imposed on Pollard) served as Secretary of Defense.

JPost adds:

"This is huge because he is the only one out of the Reagan-Weinberger-triumverate who were involved in the case who is still alive, and he is saying enough is enough," Pollard's wife Esther said. "This is significant news that a man of his stature has gotten involved. It adds dramatically to the compelling nature of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's dramatic call for Jonathan's release." Schultz is the first former US cabinet minister to openly call for Pollard's release and is a respected Republican figure. People involved in the effort to release Pollard said Schultz's endorsement would go a long way toward persuading other Republicans to join the campaign.

As Secretary of State, Schultz handled some of the first high level contacts with the Israelis when the case first broke. According to the 1987 Eban Report by The Knesset committee that investigated the Pollard affair, Schultz requested and secured from then prime minister Shimon Peres a commitment to return the documents which Pollard provided to Israel.

These documents were then used by the Americans to indict Pollard, and served as the only evidence against him.

This cooperation by Israel with the US was virtually unprecedented. It was reportedly the only time in the history of modern espionage that any country ever cooperated in the incrimination and prosecution of its own agent.

That's kind of like being the only country in the history of modern warfare to return land conquered in a defensive war. It's not a title about which I am happy in either case.

Labels: Caspar Weinberger, George Schultz, Jonathan Pollard

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:38 PM