Pollard Calls on Barak to Raise His Case with Clinton
MENL - May 19, 2000
JERUSALEM [MENL]
- Jonathan Pollard has called on Prime Minister Ehud Barak to appeal for the release of the imprisoned Israeli agent in his talks next week with U.S. President Bill Clinton.Pollard made the appeal during a visit by three Israeli parliamentarians this week. The three [Rechavam Ze'evi, Dani Naveh, and Yuli Edelstein] met Pollard for two hours in the North Carolina jail where he is being held.
The former U.S. naval intelligence analyst is serving a life sentence for passing military secrets to Israel. He was said to have told the parliamentarians that he hopes Barak will persuade Clinton to announce Pollard's release over the next week.
"There is now a of window of opportunity," Likud parliamentarian Danny Naveh said. "Clinton is coming to the end of office. His relations with Barak are good. He [Pollard] expects that the window of opportunity will be used and that Barak do all what he can to free Pollard before the window is again closed."
Pollard, who has spent 15 years in jail, has charged that Barak has failed to use his influence to win the release of the American Jew, who was granted Israeli citizenship. Clinton had agreed to release Pollard during the 1998 Wye Plantation talks with then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli sources said.
But Clinton backed down in the face of opposition from U.S. defense and intelligence officials. The CIA, Defense Department and Justice Department remain opposed to Pollard's release.*
*Justice4JP Note:
It is not true that Clinton backed down in the face of opposition from the Defense and Intelligence communities. This was simply his excuse for reneging, but it was not the reason. President Clinton's recent release of 16 unrepentant FALN terrorists in spite of a solid wall of opposition from The CIA, Defense Department, Justice Department and Congress proves that the opinion of these agencies in no way constrains the President's constitutional right to grant clemency. Mr. Clinton can free Jonathan Pollard without consulting with any Government agency or advisor, just as he did for the FALN, if he chooses to.
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