Pollard To Supreme Court: State has no right to forfeit my life to appoint Eitan

Justice4JP Release - May 1, 2006

Lawyers for Jonathan Pollard will file an appeal in Israel's Supreme Court today to block the appointment of Rafi Eitan, Pollard's former handler and control officer, as an Israeli Government Minister.

Inter alia, Pollard's petition to the High Court of Justice states:

Rafi Eitan is not suited to be a Minister because he corrupt both as an official and as a commander. The facts are:

1. Rafi Eitan single-handedly deflected all responsibility for the Pollard affair away from the Government of Israel and from the political and military echelon by falsely claiming that he had acted alone without their knowledge EVEN THOUGH this lie was untenable and the Americans knew it was a lie.

2. For 21 years, Eitan has remained silent about official Israeli Government involvement and allowed Pollard, an official Israeli agent , to rot in jail in America.

3. Rafi Eitan not only deflected blame from the Govt of Israel, he gave false testimony to the Americans blaming Pollard for the whole affair, as if Pollard had acted on his own. For 21 years Eitan never corrected this false version of events, even though he knew that it might cost an Israeli agent his life.

4. For 21 years, Eitan has withheld a critical document and refused to release it to the Americans - or to provide it to the appropriate authorities in Israel so that they might use it in order to save the life of an Israeli agent.

   The document shows clearly exactly what information Pollard DID supply to Israel, and by contrast, what information Pollard DID NOT supply. This document would have allowed the Americans to close the case years ago. It would also have PREVENTED all the false accusations against Pollard, from which he has suffered for 21 years. For 21 years, Eitan has hidden this document and withheld it from the Americans, knowing full well that he was sacrificing the life of Pollard, an Israeli agent by doing so.

5. In order to cover up and hide Israeli Government and Military involvement in the Pollard affair for the last 2 decades, Rafi Eitan made a clear and calculated choice to protect the political careers of his friends by sacrificing a soldier in the field.

6. For 21 years, Eitan refused numerous appeals from Pollard and from his wife, Esther, to come to the aid of his agent quietly behind the scenes. Eitan claimed that the Americans are angered when they hear his name and that the less that they hear the name "Eitan", the better it is for Pollard, thus he refused to help at all. He told Esther Pollard, in the presence of witnesses, that his only regret in the Pollard affair was that he did not succeed in killing Pollard before he sought refuge at the Embassy so that there would be no Pollard affair.

7. By running publicly for Knesset, in the face of the Americans, Eitan showed callous disregard for the fate of his agent, Pollard, even after 21 years. Eitan's public campaign and his high profile as both an MK and possibly as a minister, just hammers another nail in the coffin, angering the Americans all over again, and leaving Pollard to take the blame again.

8. Eitan ran for public office using Pollard's name as a way to promote himself. A Commander who callously abandons his agent in the field for 21 years, without conscience, and then steps on him all over again after 21 years further his own career should not be entrusted with public office and the responsibility that governs the lives of our citizens.

9. Eitan - to this day - continues to lie to protect the political careers of his buddies, and to prevent their involvement in the Pollard affair from being known. He maintains the lies even though he knows that doing so is tantamount to a death decree for his agent, Jonathan Pollard.

10. How can the Government of Israel entrust this man with responsibility for many citizens, when he has shown that he is incapable of behaving with honor and decency towards even one agent -- Pollard -- who continues to rot in prison for 21 years because of this man.

Pollard's petition to Supreme Court concludes:

The State of Israel has no right to forfeit Pollard's life and cause it to end behind bars. The appointment of Rafi Eitan as a Government Minister will obviate attempts to bring about Pollard's release and will thus be tantamount to imposing a death sentence on Pollard. The State of Israel has no right to do this.

For more information contact: Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, 052-383-7020