Pollard Disappointed with New Barak Policy

Steve Rodan - Middle East News Line - July 20, 1999

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Jonathan Pollard was said on Tuesday to have felt betrayed by what he considers a change in policy by Prime Minister Ehud Barak to now ignore the Israeli spy sentenced to life in prison.

"He is very disappointed," said Esther Pollard, Jonathan's wife, in an interview with Israel Radio. "He is an Israeli agent. After all these years, Barak has said that Jonathan Pollard is an internal problem of the Americans."

On Monday, Barak said that Pollard's life sentence is an issue for the U.S. judiciary. Earlier, aides to the prime minister said that he had appealed to President Bill Clinton to reduce Pollard's sentence.

"We know for certainty that he didn't raise the issue," Mrs. Pollard said. "He admitted that he didn't raise the issue in meeting with the American Jewish leaders. He was asked and he evaded the issue. Afterwards, certain people pressured him and he admitted that he didn't raise the issue and he has no intention to raise the issue in the near future."

Mrs. Pollard said Barak's new policy means a return to the early years of Pollard's imprisonment when Israeli governments feared to raise the issue. "Before the last government decided to run the issue, there were 10 years of quiet diplomacy," he said. "We don't want big headlines in the newspaper. We want that words and actions go together. That is not happening."