Wikileaks - The Sin and its Punishment: America you had it coming!

Yisrael Aaron - Kikar HaShabbat News - November 29, 2010

[Translated to English by J4JP]

HaGaon HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu ztvk"l told Jonathan Pollard that he is the tikun (spiritual rectification) for the sin of of the sale of Yosef HaTzadik (the Biblical Joseph). Now, right at the start of this week's Torah portion Parshat Miketz (which is about Yosef HaTzadik) the US -- which has been afflicting Pollard for a quarter of a century - is embroiled in an embarrassing fiasco as thousands of its secret documents are being exposed all around the world.

This past week marked the completion of

25 years in prison

Twenty-five long years have elapsed since the infamous day that Pollard was betrayed and abandoned by the government of Israel.

With the passage of 25 years, the relationship between the US and Israel has had its ups and downs. Never, so it seems, has the US ever seriously considered releasing Pollard, who sinned by passing information to Israel, the only country in the Middle East which has truly friendly relations with the US. The information which Pollard passed, as is well known, did not harm the US.

But the United States, once the greatest power in the world, intransigently refuses to release Pollard. Other prisoners who have committed similar crimes in America were released after very short sentences, sometimes a few years; sometimes just a few months; and in some cases no jail time at all. But Pollard continues to serve an unlimited life sentence in harsh conditions, no less.

Reports from the prison relate that Pollard is sick, suffering from a number of illnesses; that he cleans toilets and windows daily as his prison job; and he suffers excruciating pain much of the time. He has been subjected to severe afflictions and been given only the barest minimum to keep him alive. Why? Because this is how our great ally decided to treat him.

Pollard's enormous suffering, the tears of this devoted man, the pain of this man who is in prison because of us, ought to touch the hearts of every single person. Because of him, the State of Israel received information which saved every one of us - information that led to the distribution of gas masks, the development of chemical antidotes, and the building of sealed rooms in every new home and building in Israel.

During the first visit of the Rishon LeTzion, HaGaon HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu ztvk"l, to Jonathan Pollard 20 years ago, he told Pollard that he is the tikun (spiritual rectification for the sin of the sale of Yosef HaTzadik by his brothers.

Twenty-five years after Pollard was incarcerated, and exactly on the week we read the Torah portion Miketz, we are greeted with the news of the great fall taken by the United States in the wake of the publishing of thousands of highly embarrassing secret documents by Wikileaks.

It is hard not to feel that this is the divine hand of providence at work. The US jailed Pollard harshly and disproportionately for sharing secret documents with Israel. Now the US' image is being destroyed as thousands of secret documents are being leaked all over the world.

Many, this writer included, were overjoyed that the secret documents were published.

This is what happens to a country that behaves with wanton cruelty towards a faithful Jew, like Pollard, locked up for 25 years, afflicted and held in the harshest conditions.

This is what happens to a country that punishes disproportionally, with zeal and cruelty, one who passed information to a close ally.

This is what happens to a country that arrogantly refuses to release Pollard, even though 25 years have gone by.

Obama, you didn't want to free Pollard for fear it might damage your image on national security? Now, it appears, what you got instead is infinitely worse: irreversible damage. And not just with regard to Israel, but in the eyes of dozens of countries around the world which have diplomatic relations with the US.

America, you had it coming!

View the original article in Hebrew.