Pollard Calls for United Front With Arad Family

Nissan Ratzlav-Katz - Arutz7 - October 19, 2005

The wife of jailed Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard wrote to the family of missing IAF navigator Ron Arad, calling for a united effort over the government's apparent abandonment of their loved ones.

In her letter to the Arad family, Esther Pollard made reference to the 2004 deal that freed Elchanan Tennenbaum, as well as gained the return of the bodies of three Israeli soldiers, from the Hizbullah in exchange for the release of hundreds of imprisoned terrorists. As part of the deal, Hizbullah also apparently promised to provide information on the fate of Ron Arad, shot down over Lebanon in 1982.

Esther Pollard wrote that the deal over Ron Arad was "a pack of lies," and that the disappointment on the part of the Arad and Pollard families can lead to collaboration between them in their efforts to shake the government from its apathy.

"The prime minister so much wanted to free his family friend Tennenbaum that he called the scandal 'the commandment of redeeming of captives' - an expression that he never used in the past for Ron Arad, an IDF pilot, or for Jonathan, an Israeli agent. Sharon claimed that there would be a 'second round' in which Ron's freedom would be obtained. Time has proven to all of us how much of an unsubstantiated pack of lies that was," Pollard wrote.

"Our loved ones were both taken captive as a result of their actions on behalf of the security of Israel," Mrs. Pollard continued, "Ron as an IDF pilot and Jonathan, who was acting under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense. Both of them carried out their missions with dedication and believed that whoever sent them would also know how to take care of them in times of trouble. Unfortunately, the past two decades have proven to us all how wrong and removed from reality that simple assumption was."

In a similar, open letter published in the mass-circulation Ma'ariv newspaper, Esther Pollard wrote: "The time has come for the entire people to speak with one voice and demand from the government of Israel that it end its policy of abandonment and treason, and do all that is necessary to bring our [nation's] sons, Ron and Jonathan, home."