Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Pushes for Pollard Release
Yishai gives US ambassador letter for Obama; Cunningham promises US president will receive message, says "the matter is complicated."
Gil Hoffman - The Jerusalem Post - December 13, 2011
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef added his name to the long list of Israeli and American leaders calling for the release of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard on Thursday.
Yosef joined former US Secretary of State George Schultz and US President Barack Obama's mentor, Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree, as public figures who have called for Pollard's release in the past week.
Shas chairman Eli Yishai relayed a letter to Obama from Yosef in a meeting with American ambassador James Cunningham at Yishai's Tel Aviv office. Yishai told Cunningham about the urgency of Obama granting Pollard clemency after serving more than 25 years of a life sentence for passing classified information to an ally. Cunningham promised to make sure Obama receives Yosef's letter.
"The matter is complicated, and people are working on the matter at all times," Cunningham said, according to Yishai's associates.
Yishai's associates said Yosef had written American presidents in the past asking for Pollard's release and sent letters about Pollard via prime ministers who visited the White House.
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