Clinton Not Planning to Release Pollard in 2002

Urgent Media Release - January 10, 1999

Clinton is not planning to set Pollard free in the year 2002

Clinton is simply ducking the issue by seeting 2002 as the

new date for discussion

of the issue.

Mr. Clinton's plan to cut Jonathan Pollard's sentence to 25 years so that he will be eligible for release in 2002 is a fraud. It does not guarantee that Pollard will be released. It only guarantees that the issue will be discussed again in 2002. The opposition will be as fierce in 2002 and Pollard will never go free.

Mr. Clinton's people devised this scheme so he can present it to Israel as if it were a gain for Israel, while he himself would never have to deal with the issue again during his term in office.

If the plan were honest, it would follow the proposal of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to cut Pollard's sentence to 20 years. Under mandatory release laws, Pollard would be set free immediately.

Understanding the fraud that is being perpetrated on the Israeli people, the Prime Minister and the Head of the Opposition have written a joint letter to Mr. Clinton demanding Pollard's immediate release. Neither leader is willing to buy a "Pollard-in-a-poke" again from Mr. Clinton. Not after Wye.