Washington – The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism today December 30, 2008 released a letter from Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, to President George W. Bush, requesting that before he leaves office in January, President Bush commute the sentence of Jonathan Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to one count of delivering classified information to a foreign government, Israel. The full text of the letter follows:
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November 6, 2008
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose more than 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, I write to urge you to grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard.
As we noted in a 1993 Union for Reform Judaism resolution, we neither condone breaking the law, nor do we make this request out of a belief that that Jonathan Pollard is innocent of the crime for which he was charged. However, Mr. Pollard’s sentence is grossly disproportionate to sentences that others have received for comparable espionage offenses. Only those who spied for enemy nations have received life sentences. No other individual convicted of disclosing information to an ally has received such a sentence.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Pollard has remained in prison, including significant time spent in solitary confinement. In the interest of justice, it is now time to commute Mr. Pollard’s sentence to time served.
Sincerely,
/s/
Rabbi David Saperstein
enough with the pollard already! bush doesnt care! stop wasting your breath
No one needs Tovas from reform jews! And besides Bush hates reformers, he’s conservative!
Its not Bush, and its not that easy as every1 thinks.
whoever does not at least to try to help Pollard, is guilty of “lo saamod al dam reiacho”
i’m waiting for all those bloggers who condem (and rightfully so) when a frum yid commits a crime, and want him to be punished to the fullist extent of the law.
where are they now? didn’t Pollard engage in illegal activity? why should he be freed from prison when Rubashkin can’t be released on bail?
Pidyan Shevuyim is a cardinal Mitzvah for all Jews. We have enough enough on a plate now and don’t need additional doses of Sinas Chinom when a substantial proportion of Klal Yisroel is in sakana.
1.5 mil ???
What is complely ignored by everyone on the Pollard issue is how the government violated its plea agreement. Here are the relevant facts as related to me by an attorney who worked on his appeal.
Pollard pled guilty to a non-capital offense in which the most serious punishment was life in prison. In return for pleading guilty and relieving the government of its burden to prove its case Pollard was promised lieniency in sentencing. the government violated this promise when former Sec of State Casper Weinberger wrote an ex parte letter on the eve of sentencing demanding that Pollard get the harshest possible sentence. What followed was a complete mishandling of the case by Pollard’s attorney at the time. His attorney failed to file the simple notice of appeal. Pollard has not be able to get a hearing on the issue of the governments violation of its plea deal. His latest appeal was denied by the DC Circuit Court on procedural grounds and the Supreme Court denied to hear the case.
While I agree that illegal activity cannot be encouraged there is certainly an argument that Pollard has paid for his crime with the over 20 years he has already served. I am not hopeful that Bush will grant a pardon (or commute his sentence) but that has not stopped me from sending an email daily to the whitehouse. I urge everyone to cut and paste the above facts (or draft your own message) into an email and send it to [email protected]
The implications of the article seem to imply that it is a novelty that reform would try to free Pollard. If that is true then perhaps this can be looked at as a sign of Jewish unity that all Jews feels that no Jew should be aloud to suffer regardless of his affiliation. As is known since every Jew has a Neshama trapped in a body that is enough prison and no more is needed or wanted.
Number one:
Are you sick? Would you say that if it was your child or father in prison? You need to take a serious look at yourself.
Whoever thinks Pollard is a saint please do Google keyword search using his name and look at the facts. The list of his offenses are too long to get into in comments on VIN.
Enough with the Jewish apologists, we are beginning to look like idiots.
Get rubashkin out first
Does anyone know the real truth about Pollard?
I certainly do not & I dont think many do.
What I have learnt, is that Pollard (an (at the time) irreligious American Jew) discovered that USA was building WMD for Iraq among other things, and then gave that classified information to Israel. I know there is much more to it than that but its not just as simple as everyone makes out – especially as he has never himself applied for a pardon. His punishment seems to be disproportionate to his crime, but who am I (or you) to decide on the justice of a case no one really knows about.
Pollard has nothing to do with any Israeli soldiers being held hostage, (in conditions much worse than Pollards).
Pollard has nothing to do with Rubashkin.
Pollard has nothing to do with Bush or Obama.
Pollard has nothing to do with many other jewish issues, except that it just puts Jews in a worse light.
The more everyone pushes for a pardon, the more it gets media attention and the LESS likely it will be that he will get a pardon.
Pollard was a drug addict. He sold secrets to foreign countries for drug money. He was irreligious at the time, so don’t say he was railroaded because he was jewish. Not only did he sell secrets to Israel, he sold secrets to other foreign countries hostile to the US. There is a reason why the US didn’t release him. Don’t forget what happened to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg for selling the atom bomb to Russia. They were executed. Pollard got off easy. So you stupid self-deleading jews, stop putting stupid ads in the papers and sending stupid emails to call the White House, because frankly I don’t care. In America, you commit a crime, you go to jail. Next time you plan to commit a crime think about the jail time! Same goes for Rubashkin.
What a shame. Jews talking down to other Jews. Aren’t we supposed to love each other? Is hate and dislike going to bring our lost brothers home? Remember they were brought up without a proper Jewish education. Many Jews will not accept others if they look or dress differently. What does our Creator feel about this? What a shame.
Reply to #12
I am in complete agreement with your sentiments…there are too few of us to be counting any yid out. I would ask you, however, to consider your spelling;you managed at least three spelling errors in two short sentences. Why is this important?
In a world that is hostile to him, the Jew needs to articulate his position and defend himself- both intellectually and physically in the most credible fashion. One need only witness the predictable news coverage of Israel’s long in coming Gaza operation to understand this. In other words, literacy matters. I speak not only to you, but to many others on this site who should be more careful in expressing themselves.
May Hashem grant Mr. Pollard his freedom speedily.