Palazzi, Loftus, and Lerner on Pollard
Arutz7 News - June 18, 2003
Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, the pro-Israel secretary-general of the Italian Muslim Association, said he "applauds John Loftus' expose of the legal injustice committed against Jonathan Pollard." Loftus, a former federal prosecutor, recently wrote in Moment Magazine that the Americans' extreme treatment of Pollard stems from the fact that he was believed to be responsible for the deaths of American agents in Russia - when in fact it was later learned that senior CIA official Aldrich Ames and FBI Special Agent Robert Hanssen had betrayed the American agents.
Loftus also wrote that "Pollard's tale was only the beginning of a much bigger story about a major America intelligence scandal" - a cover-up of the deep ties between Saudi Arabia and terrorists such as Osama Bin-Laden. "Whenever the FBI or CIA came close to uncovering the Saudi terrorist connection," Loftus writes, "their investigations were mysteriously terminated. In hindsight, I can only conclude that some of our own Washington bureaucrats have been protecting the Al-Qaeda leadership and their oil-rich Saudi backers from investigation for more than a decade."
Sheikh Palazzi is a leading Muslim religious thinker who teaches that the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam exported by Saudi Arabia is the source of Middle East terror. He further believes that the Koran sanctions Israel's right to exist; that Arafat should be "executed or jailed"; and that the Palestinians' national existence is just "a Madison Avenue fantasy."
"The case of Jonathan Pollard," Sheikh Palazzi told the Root and Branch Organization in Jerusalem, "is symbolic of America's moral sickness. While being an American citizen, Jonathan Pollard spied for a friendly country to save many innocent human lives. Pollard should be considered a national hero, both in the United States and in Israel."
Ten MKs, heads of their respective Knesset factions, sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Sharon last week, urging him to take immediate action to seek Pollard's release.
Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA notes that the Sharon administration bungled its recent "gesture" towards the PA - the release from prison of Ahmad El-Sukar, who was serving a life sentence for the refrigerator bombing in downtown Jerusalem on July 4, 1975. Lerner writes, "Under normal circumstances, the release of a terrorist directly responsible for 14 murders would be packaged to receive a maximum of media attention, and in turn a maximum benefit to Israel... [However,] no effort was made to make this a high profile action... In point of fact, the action was so low-profile that the general public is not even aware that Israel unilaterally released the murderer of 14 Israelis as one of a series of 'gestures.' ... [In addition,] why didn't Israel insist that America and Egypt join in this 'sacrifice for peace' by releasing Jonathan Pollard and Azzam Azzam? ...If Sharon had prepared for an Aqaba Summit scenario with detailed planning and consultations, instead of abrupt last-minute decisions, the release of El-Sukar could have been turned into a win-win situation."