Pollard to Olmert: "Your silence is costing me my life."

Sharon Rofeh-Ofir - YNET (Yediot) - October 19, 2006

Translated to English by Justice4JP

Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli spy imprisoned in the United States, this week relayed a letter to the prime minister in which he expressed strong criticism of the omission of his name from the list of captives and MIAs that Ehud Olmert read this week in his speech at the first sitting of the winter session of Knesset.

This morning (Thursday) Pollard's wife, Esther, told YNET that her husband painfully related in a conversation yesterday about the reaction in prison to the prime minister's failure to mention his name. "Those who are responsible for Jonathan in the prison follow the media. They knew that the prime minister did not mention his name. Jonathan told me that he was given a hard time when he heard comments like, "And you think you will ever get out of here?! Your own prime minister doesn't even know your name!" Esther recounted.

Yesterday Jonathan was visited by the Israeli Consul General Reda Mansour, who is the Government official responsible for him. In the course of the meeting, Pollard asked Mansour to relay his letter to the Prime Minister. The letter strongly criticizes Olmert who was a member of the Eban Commission (the Knesset committee which investigated the Pollard case two decades ago) for never bothering to do anything to help him.

During the time that Olmert was a member of the Eban Commission a report was published which expressed [Olmert's own position] that the cooperation of the State of Israel with the US and its assistance in the prosecution of Pollard was wrong. Israel's return of the documents was, according to the report, "fundamentally mistaken and caused serious damage." The report stressed that "These documents constituted the basis for the conviction and life sentence that Pollard received"

In his letter to Olmert Pollard continued, "You had direct access to all of the information. There was so much you could have done right from the start to help me...Since taking office as Prime Minster, you have comported yourself as if I do not exist. Even as recently as two days ago, at the inaugural winter session of the Knesset you read out the names of all of Israel's captives and spoke of Israel's dedication to their swift and safe return home. My name was not on the list."

Next month Olmert it is expected to visit Washington at exactly around the same time that Pollard will be completing his 21st year in prison. "Mr. Olmert, it is no secret that you bear a personal responsibility for the years of affliction I have endured in prison What you have done and what you have failed to do has been instrumental in prolonging my agony for more than 2 decades."

A source close to Pollard added, "Jonathan's not nave, he told me yesterday, for 21 years I have been in Gehinom (a living hell). There has been one prime minister after and other, and I know that they have done absolutely nothing to secure my release. But this is the first time he feels that a prime minister is actually trying to totally obliterate all memory of the fact that he exists."