Pollard: FM Shalom Is Exploiting My Tragedy

Boaz Gaon - Maariv NRG - August 4, 2004

Translated to English by J4JP
Click here for original Hebrew article.

Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard, sent a sharp message to the Foreign Minister about what he called 'exploiting the death of my mother-in-law for his own personal gain'.

Jonathan Pollard is outraged. From his prison cell he sent an angry message to Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, that Israel is 'trampling the grave of my mother-in-law'.

The Israeli media yesterday (2 August 2005) published reports that the Foreign Ministry is secretly approaching the American President, George Bush, to permit Pollard to visit his dying mother-in-law in Canada. However the problem is, his wife's mother died two weeks ago on July 18th.

In any case, according to the Pollards, there was no request made by the Foreign Minister to the US on this issue, and Shalom's announcement in the media was simply a means of pandering to the various groups in Israel who are pressing for Pollard's release.

"This government has no shame," said Esther Pollard yesterday, who lost her mother. "Even though we immediately notified the Foreign Ministry when my mother passed away 2 weeks ago, no Israeli official has been in touch with us since then, not even to express condolences. Instead, they are exploiting our tragedy for political gain."

An official in the Foreign Ministry responded, "There was no wish or attempt here to reap political gains from this personal painful story. The moment that Pollard's request reached the Foreign Minister, he instructed Israeli representatives in the US to help Pollard visit his mother-in-law, who in the meantime, unfortunately passed away. Publication in the media occurred without our knowledge or consent, and the fact is there was a gap of time between her death and the media reports.

J4JP Note: The senior Israeli correspondent who broke the story on August 2, 2005, which was then picked up by the rest of the Israeli media, confirmed to J4JP that he had received the information a day earlier from FM Silvan Shalom's office, putting the lie to the claim that publication had occurred "without [the Foreign Ministry's] knowledge or consent".

Pollard's Petition was Rejected

This was not the only blow that befell Pollard lately. About 2 weeks ago US Federal Appeals Court rejected Pollard's appeal to shorten the life sentence that was imposed upon him in 1987.

The court ruled that Pollard, who was convicted of espionage on behalf of Israel in 1987 waited too long to seek relief from his sentence. As well, the court decided that Pollard, who will soon be celebrating his 51st birthday, did not succeed in proving that he had had ineffective assistance of counsel, as he maintains.