Knesset body blasts government on Pollard
J.Weekly [N. California] - August 2, 2012
A Knesset committee is charging that Israel has not done all it should for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.
The Knesset Control Committee held deliberations July 31 on the government's efforts to bring about the release of Pollard, who has been imprisoned in the U.S. for more than 26 years.
Speaking about efforts to release Pollard, committee chairman Uri Ariel said, "It is wrong to say that the state did everything in its power to release Jonathan Pollard. At the end of the day, the man who acted for Israel is still incarcerated."
Ariel said Zvi Hauser, cabinet secretary, and Ron Dermer, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have for two months refused to attend the committee's meetings and explain what actions the government has taken on Pollard's behalf.
Ariel, a former head of the Knesset lobby for Pollard's release, said at the meeting that he would consider issuing a habeas corpus, which would obligate Hauser and Dermer to report to the committee.
"No other spy has sat in prison for such a long period of time. Even the heads of the American intelligence services said that 26 years is beyond a doubt, out of proportion," Ariel added.