Ambassador Intercedes with US for Israeli Drug Dealer

Request to Rice: Don't Extradite Israeli

Maariv - February 8, 2005 (see Hebrew text below)

English Translation by J4JP Released March 4, 2005

In the course of the round of meetings which were held with the American Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in Israel, she received requests not only of a political nature but also of the humanitarian kind as well, including one concerning the fate of an Israeli incarcerated in the United States.

In 1990 the man in question was arrested in Turkey on charges of selling heroin. He fled to Israel and from there to the United States. In 1995 he was arrested in the US and charged with involvement in marketing the drug "Ecstasy" and sentenced to 9 years in prison. A few weeks before his release, Turkey filed an extradition request with the United States.

The man's lawyer, Mordecai Tzivin, who specializes in representing prisoners arrested overseas, filed a request that the extradition order be canceled. He presented testimony which claims that the Turkish extradition request was based on testimony extracted by torture. Therefore it was claimed that the extradition request should be canceled since according to the Geneva Convention, testimony extracted by torture is invalid,

The Secretary of State has the final say on extraditions, so a letter was relayed to her which detailed the chain of events. The letter was handed to Rice at the offices of President Moshe Katsav by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States (Dani Ayalon.)

Justice4JP Comments:


The failure of Ambassador Ayalon and President Katsav to intercede with the Secretary of State on behalf of an Israeli agent in prison in the US for the last 20 years, while interceding on behalf of a convicted Israeli drug dealer, underscores the callousness and indifference of the Israeli Government towards Jonathan Pollard. Especially knowing how close Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is with her boss, President George W. Bush, Ayalon and Katsav had to know that their failure to mention Pollard would be very damaging to the imperiled Israeli agent.

J4JP notes that it would have taken no effort for Ambassador Ayalon or President Katsav to hand Rice a copy of the Knesset Petition for Jonathan Pollard signed by 112 Members of Knesset more than a year ago, but never delivered to the Americans. But even this minimal gesture was not made for Pollard.

Next week (March 7, 2005) Ambassador Ayalon will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, to speak at a local synagogue which is also doing a fund-raiser for victims of the Tsunami. Although the Ambassador will be about 20 minutes away from the prison where Jonathan Pollard has spent the last 20 years for his activities on behalf of Israel, he has no plan to visit Pollard. No relief for an Israeli agent in peril.


Hebrew Text: Israeli Ambassador Intercedes with US for Israeli Drug Dealer: Maariv


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