Jonathan Pollard devastated by no update from PM

"I feel like I am being thrown out of the embassy again," says Pollard;
Esther Pollard: It is "torture" for Jonathan to be kept in the dark.

Gil Hoffman - The Jerusalem Post - May 26, 2011

Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard is upset that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has not updated him via his wife Esther since his meeting last Friday with US President Barack Obama, Pollard told The Jerusalem Post through Esther Thursday night.

Esther Pollard said officials in the Prime Minister's Office had promised her that she would be updated soon after the meeting in the White House and that Netanyahu would meet with her soon after his return to Jerusalem. An official response from the Prime Minister's Office denied that such a promise had been made.

"Jonathan told me that every day that passes without any word from the prime minister is another day that he feels he is being thrown out of the Embassy in Washington all over again," Esther Pollard said. "I am devastated by the sadness and disappointment I hear in Jonathan's voice every time he calls and asks me if we have had any word from the PM or the PMO yet. I know that it breaks his heart all over again every time that I have to tell him that no one has been in touch with us at all."

Esther Pollard described herself as "heartbroken, deeply shocked, and genuinely distressed." She said her husband was in "an excruciating state" and that it was "torture" for Jonathan to be kept in the dark.

"Jonathan urgently requires a status update," she said. "Information is his oxygen. It is what keeps him alive and gives him the strength to hold on one more day. Even a negative report from Netanyahu or his office would be preferable to the anguish that Jonathan is experiencing, being cut off and rejected once again."

In response to a question about whether there were plans for Netanyahu to meet with Esther Pollard, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement denying that Netanyahu had promised to meet with her and detailing the many steps Netanyahu had taken on her husband's behalf in his two terms as prime minister.

"Since his first term, Netanyahu has taken action to bring about Pollard's release out of a deep commitment," the statement said. "He made the matter public, despite the opposition of the security and political establishment. He recognized Pollard as an Israeli agent, visited him, and raised his fate to American presidents in an effort to bring about his release and his return to his family to rehabilitate his health."

Esther Pollard responded that the question remained when she would receive an update from the prime minister or his office so she could update her husband.

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