Pollard's Lawyer: U.S. Government Officials Want to Punish Israel Through Pollard

Week of February 2, 1996 - The Jewish Press

Jerusalem

- Israel last Wednesday granted citizenship to Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence in the United States for spying for Israel. Interior Minister Chaim Roman signed the papers in his office and handed them to Pollard's lawyers.

At the brief ceremony, Ramon said he hopes this would help secure Pollard's release. "It's another step that the Israeli government is taking in order to demonstrate our efforts and commitment to bringing Jonathan Pollard to Israel," Ramon said.

Asked why Pollard was not granted Israeli citizenship earlier, Ramon said he could not answer for previous governments. But Pollard's American lawyer Larry Dub suggested that there had been an understanding between Jerusalem and the U.S. "

There was a tacit agreement not to touch the Pollard matter for ten years

which started back in the national unity government in 1985. Now, after 10 years had expired, former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin undertook to reactivate the Pollard matter.

"We would have hoped that Israel would have asked in a more forceful manner for Pollard's release given the fact that the Americans are serving as a guarantor for the entire peace process. Releasing someone who has served longer than any other spy for the same offense did not seem to us to be such a big deal. But apparently it is and there are still members in the U.S. government, in the CIA, the FBI and the Justice Department who still want to punish Israel through Pollard."