Pollard Asks Court for a Conditional Judgment in His Petition Against Barak

October 13, 1999 - Yaffa Goldstein - Ha'Tzofeh - Translated from Hebrew

Jonathan Pollard, who has now served some 15 years in prison in America for the offense of passing classified information to Israel, filed a request in Israel Supreme Court yesterday for an emergency hearing and a conditional judgment in his petition against the Prime Minister, Ehud Barak.

The request, which was filed by his attorney Baruch Ben-Yosef accompanied by Pollard's wife, Esther, included Pollard's rebuttal of the Government's response to his petition. Pollard considers the Government's attitude "disrespectful" and an "insult to the moral conscience of the State of Israel" and " its badge of shame."

The 11-page request states that Pollard's long and dragged out incarceration has resulted in a dangerous precedent being set whereby the Government allows itself to pick and choose, according to political and/or personal interests, which agent/soldier to rescue at once and which agent/soldier to abandon in the field to languish indefinitely.

Another claim against the Prime Minister raised in Pollard's request to the court states that now that the issue of Pollard's released has been raised for discussion at the highest levels at the Wye Summit, the only one who has both the required authority and the standing in Washington to conclude the negotiations for his release is the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak. But, instead of discharging his responsibility, Barak has appointed a lower level official to this task, who is so inappropriate that he has already resigned from this job two years ago when he realized that he did not have the the authority or the standing necessary to secure Pollard's release.

Pollard also states that his previous government-appointed attorneys devoted more of their efforts in the past to silencing him than to securing his release. They bungled and sabotaged his legal appeals by delay or mismanagement. Among other examples given, his last government-appointed lawyer also "lost" critical information contained in his file - information that would have cleared him of false accusations. Pollard states that even when he discharged this attorney, she refused to turn over his file to his current attorney and he had to file a complaint with a legal ethics board to get it back.

Pollard's Request to the Court also rebuts the government claim that Pollard's current attorney Larry Dub (who was chosen by Pollard) does not cooperate with the government, and offers as evidence, a letter to Dub from Dani Naveh, former Cabinet Secretary. In the letter Naveh thanks Dub for his cooperation in the government's efforts to secure the release of Jonathan Pollard. Dub is currently in the US. He has made an emergency trip to consult with his client.

Pollard also rejects the Government's offer to fund "personal expenses" for him, which it limits to things that can be obtained in the prison commissary, such as chocolate bars and shampoo. Instead, Pollard states that the Government has a responsibility to fund his actual personal needs which include legal fees, and full financial support for himself and his ill wife, who is now struggling to meet all of their expenses and the expenses for his fight for freedom on her own.

Regarding the Government's claim that nothing can be done to expedite Pollard's release as long as the issue is still being reviewed by President Clinton, Pollard responds that Clinton just used this as an excuse to drag things out. Even after Netanyahu folded publicly at Wye, Pollard was still slated to go free later, as part of a deal between the two leaders, parallel to the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The current Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, cut Pollard loose from this deal. Clinton is avoiding using his constitutional power to grant executive clemency to Pollard, as he recently did - against the advice of the CIA, FBI, Congress and all his government advisors - for 16 Puerto Rican FALN terrorists, who were responsible for 130 bombings in the US and the death and injury of scores of citizens. [See FALN articles on Senate Race Page.]

Pollard also rejects the Government claim that the Washington Embassy will be responsible for his health care needs, stating that for the last four years the Embassy has ignored similar orders to do so. He also rejected the claim that any public discussion of his case hurts it, since his case has already been discussed publicly at the highest levels in both the US and Israel. He also dispels the "fig leaf" of quiet diplomacy, which he states "high level sources" indicate is not not occurring at any level.

Pollard, whose health is failing and who is in a hostile and anti-Semitic environment which is putting his life at risk, petitioned the court to ask why the current Government has cut all contact with him and his representatives, and ignored 15 requests for contact and information until he was forced to seek relief by filing this petition in Supreme Court.

For further information:

See text of Pollard Petition No. 6029/99
See text of Request For Emergency Hearing and Conditional Judgment (including rebuttal of Government response to Petition No. 6029/99)
See FALN articles.