Pollards Grateful After US Supreme Court Dismissal

Justice4JP Release - March 21, 2006

Jonathan and Esther Pollard wish to express admiration, gratitude and profound respect to their American attorneys, Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, for their heroic, undying, untiring efforts to secure justice for Jonathan Pollard, against insuperable odds. Their courage, determination, dedication and devotion to the truth has done the Jewish People great honor and been an enormous Kiddush HaShem.

Fighting a battle for justice - uphill all the way - against 3 government agencies determined to prevent the truth in this case from ever coming to light, Lauer and Semmelman fought all the way to the Supreme Court without ever breaking stride or becoming discouraged in the face of utter corruption and behind-the-scenes subversion.

The American Justice, Intelligence and Defense Departments have for 21 years thrown their full weight into subverting the rule of law to ensure that Jonathan Pollard, the Jewish agent of the Jewish State, never gets his day in court and that he remain in prison as a constant symbol for use against Israel and against the American Jewish community. In their intransigent, two-decades-long subversion of justice for Jonathan Pollard, these agencies have repeatedly demonstrated that their hatred for Israel far outweighs any regard they have for the rule of law or for the American Constitution.

Even the support of some of the greatest legal minds in America was of no avail. Among the influential signees of Amicus Briefs to the court in support of Pollard's case were such illustrious names as Anthony Amsterdam, Charles Ogletree, Charles E. Rice and Michael Tigar. Among the important legal organizations supporting Jonathan's brief were the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. This heavyweight support was of no avail in face of the massive subversion of the courts by the Justice, Intelligence and Defense Departments. Their stubborn opposition caused the entire legal struggle to be calculatedly sandbagged at the outset of every filing, and the merits of Pollard's case were never reached. Every filing was summarily dismissed on spurious and flimsy technicalities.

Refusing to give in to the subversion, and more determined than ever, Lauer and Semmelman took Pollard's case all the way to the American Supreme Court. This final avenue of appeal behaved no differently than the lower courts: it subverted justice by simply refusing to hear Pollard's petition. Contrary to misinformed media reports, Jonathan Pollard did not lose the case; it simply was never heard.

Justice4JP released the following statement to the Israeli media today. Translation below is provided by J4JP:

US Supreme Court Hammers Final Nail in the Coffin
of Hopes to Secure Justice for Jonathan Pollard Via Legal Avenues.

J4JP Release - March 21, 2006

ESTHER POLLARD: "Jonathan's very life is at stake. If the Prime Minister will not respond at once - even before the day is done - by making an immediate appeal to President Bush to release my husband, then he personally will be sentencing Jonathan to death."

The US Supreme Court yesterday dismissed Jonathan Pollard's final petition, driving the last nail into the coffin of hopes to secure justice for Jonathan Pollard via the US legal system. Here are some of the comments Esther Pollard made in the Israeli media today:

"The decision of the Supreme court is disappointing but not surprising. The dismissal of this petition, just like all the ones that preceded it, was based solely upon legal technicality; the merits of the case were never reached."

"Israel's abandonment of her agent, my husband, Jonathan Pollard, was never a problem that could be solved via the American legal system."

"The real issue is: this is the first time in the history of modern espionage that an agent has been forced to face a court of law on his own, in the country where he operated, without receiving any support from the country which sent him and for whom he sacrificed himself."

"From the outset Jonathan never had any chance of receiving justice from the Americans as long as the country that sent him, and for whom he sacrificed himself, continued to turn its back on him."

"Whenever I am out in public, people come up to me again and again to express their outrage at the ingratitude and irresponsibility of the Government of Israel, which instead of freeing from captivity the one who served the State and saved the lives of Israeli citizens, just threw him to the dogs."

"For years we were told to be patient, that there is an on-going legal initiative. No one can say that any longer. It is over. This was the final nail in the coffin of our hopes of securing justice for Jonathan via the American system of justice."

"Every additional minute that Jonathan spends in prison he is in mortal danger. Every additional moment, every additional second that Jonathan remains in prison, his life hangs in the balance. There is no reason to wait to bring him home in a coffin, G-d forbid!"

"If the Prime Minister will not respond at once - even before the day is done - by making an immediate appeal to President Bush to release my husband, then he personally will be sentencing Jonathan to death."