Pollard: Israel is Burying Me Alive

Jonathan Pollard, the former US naval analyst convicted of spying for Israel, yesterday charged that the government is not doing anything to secure his release even though it can free its agents when it wants.

The statement came in advance of a petition to the High Court of Justice, which is due to be heard today, in which Pollard demands that the government officially recognize him as an Israeli agent.

"The government knows how to get its agents out," Pollard said, referring to the release of two Mossad agents held in Jordan after the Mashaal Affair. "The government knows how to act on information when it wants to. It got them out in a couple of days. These two guys weren't left to rot for years in a foreign prison.

"Believe me, for 13 years the government has been paying only lip service. They were burying me alive. They [Israel] want me here for as long as they [the US authorities] bloody well keep me here," Pollard continued. "If I die here, the truth will die with me."

Pollard was speaking in a taped conversation released to the media by his wife, Esther Zeitz Pollard.

The petition is due to be heard in camera by the High Court this morning. Pollard herself will attend.

Pollard's lawyer, Larry Dub, said yesterday that he is not sure whether he will ask the court to lift its decision to hold the hearings in camera. He said the decision was relayed to him Monday by telephone and that a closed door hearing could "help both sides to be more at ease to state their real positions... All the parties can then be as flexible as possible.

"In its response, the government has not refuted point by point the allegations in our petition - that Pollard was an agent working for Israel and that there were promises made to him that have not been kept," Dub said. "I'm hopeful the court will recognize our position."

Liat Collins adds:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told parliamentary reporters yesterday that Israel has not abandoned Pollard.

He said he had raised the matter at least three times with US President Bill Clinton, adding that Pollard should be returned to Israel.