AZM Expresses Disappointment with Denial of Clemency
March 24, 1994
AMERICAN ZIONIST MOVEMENT
Contact: Richard Cohen Associates
(212) 758-6969
For Immediate Release
JEWISH LEADERS, 'DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED' WITH CLINTON REFUSAL
TO COMMUTE POLLARD SENTENCE, SAY THEY WILL PRESS FOR PAROLE
NEW YORK, March 24 - Leaders of the American Zionist Movement - an umbrella group of 22 U.S. organizations representing one million American Jews - today expressed "deep disappointment" at President Clinton's refusal to commute the life sentence of imprisoned spy Jonathan Pollard and announced they will continue to press for his release when he becomes eligible for parole next year.
"We recognize that what Mr. Pollard did was wrong and cannot be excused. But we continue to believe that the life sentence he received was unduly harsh and decidedly inconsistent with sentences meted out to others guilty of similar offenses," said a statement issued by Seymour D. Reich, president, and Karen J. Rubinstein, executive director of AZM.
The statement said President Clinton's decision was "overly-hasty" and "failed to reflect the full complexity of this case." The organization also said it does not intend to drop the issue and will press for Mr. Pollard's release on humanitarian grounds when he becomes eligible for parole next year.
The text of the statement follows:
"We are deeply disappointed by what we believe was an overly-hasty Presidential decision to reject a commutation of Jonathan Pollard's sentence to time served. We recognize that what Mr. Pollard did was wrong and cannot be excused. But we continue to believe that the life sentence he received was unduly harsh and decidedly inconsistent with sentences meted out to others guilty of similar offenses."President Clinton's refusal to end Mr. Pollard's long imprisonment failed to reflect the full complexity of this case. His decision did not take into account the fact that Mr. Pollard was guilty not of treason but of a single count of passing classified information to a U.S. friend and ally, Israel; that an agreement to plead guilty in exchange for less than a life sentence was broken by the government; that Mr. Pollard has already serve eight years, most of it in solitary confinement, and that Mr. Pollard had cooperated fully with the government in its investigation of his spying activities.
"We do not intend to drop this issue. We fully intend to press for Mr. Pollard's release on humanitarian grounds when he becomes eligible for parole next year."