Pollard Returns To Court

February 21, 1998 - News Release

Pollard's attorney today revealed March 2 as the new court date for hearing the Pollard case in the Supreme Court of Israel. The 60 day delay granted by the court to allow the government time to settle the case out of court elapsed on December 29, 1997.

In spite of a letter from the Prime Minister hand-delivered to Jonathan Pollard, and in spite of public assurances by Ministry of Defense officials that the case would receive top priority, there has been no progress in the 4 months that have elapsed since the Supreme Court began hearing the case in October of 1997.

In a recent letter to Immigration Minister Yuli Edelstein who visited Pollard at the Federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, Pollard wrote:

"Since you visited me last November, some 12 weeks have gone by. Since my arrest, some 675 weeks have gone by.

It took the government less than 1 weeks to secure the release of the agents in the Mashaal affair. They have had more than 8 times that amount of time to rescue me since you began your initiative. And of course the government has had 450 times as much time to secure my release before you entered the picture.

When we met, you seemed to understand the urgency of the situation. You spoke of bringing me home at once, (January 1998 was the target date originally confided in Esther). You spoke publicly of bringing me home for the Jubilee year (celebrations).

Your words raised my hopes so high, that I never expected... another "quiet diplomacy effort", doomed to failure just like all the rest. Instead of getting on with the serious business of getting me out of here, the government is still busy forming a new committee to talk about it.

My brother Yuli, my faith and confidence soared when you told me that "without noisy diplomacy, there is no quiet diplomacy." But as the days and weeks and months and years go by, and the government plays the game of "quiet diplomacy", you are inadvertently bartering away my life."