Israel Matzav

Pollard's father dead

Morris Pollard, the 95-year old father of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, passed away this evening in an Indiana hospital.

Over the last few days, there was an effort afoot to allow Jonathan Pollard a furlough from jail (where he has been imprisoned for 26 years) to see his father one last time. Now, that effort will shift to allowing Jonathan to attend his father's funeral.

Morris Pollard had been hospitalized for more than a week, suffering from the impact of a severe bladder infection. His rabbi at Temple Beth-El in South Bend, Eric Siroka, sent out a letter to his congregants informing them the funeral service would be held on Monday.

Pollard's family, American Jewish leaders and Knesset members had been lobbying for Jonathan to be granted what is called "compassionate leave" for 24 hours to allow him to see his father before he died. Jonathan spoke to Morris on the phone last weekend for the last time.

The effort will now shift to lobbying to enable Pollard to attend his father's funeral. He was not allowed to attend the funeral of his mother.

Morris Pollard was professor emeritus of biological sciences at Notre Dame University and an internationally recognized prostate cancer researcher. He published more than 300 scientific articles and studied disease mechanisms for more than 40 years.

His World War II research in the US Army's Veterinary Corps on typhus and exotic viruses from the Pacific Southwest earned Pollard a commendation medal and three presidential citations.

Morris Pollard led an unsuccessful battle to bring about his son's release from jail. He was responsible for initiating the latest wave of public calls upon US President Barack Obama to commute his son's sentence by persuading Lawrence Korb, an assistant secretary of defense at the time of Pollard's arrest, to join the cause.

Pollard wrote before his death that he cannot sleep at night knowing the injustice of his son's sentence.

"In more than two decades, no evidence has been put forth of damage caused to the United States as a result of Pollard's actions," he wrote in the Washington Post in November. "Nothing that could begin to justify a life sentence."

Pollard's mother passed away in 2001. At the time, the Jew-hating Caspar Weinberger was still alive (and no, I don't just refer to him that way because of Pollard). Weinberger died in 2006. Maybe this time, Pollard will be allowed to attend his father's funeral?

Labels: Caspar Weinberger, Jonathan Pollard

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:09 AM