Jewish Agency calls for Pollard's immediate release

Hamodia Staff - Hamodia [NY] - February 20, 2013

YERUSHALAYIM - Just one day after Yair Lapid declared his advocacy for Jonathan Pollard, newly re-elected Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky added the full weight of the Jewish Agency to the growing calls to free Pollard.

At a Jewish Agency conclave of the heads of Jewish communities in Israel and around the world on Tuesday, Sharansky urged U.S. President Barack Obama to act immediately to end Pollard's ordeal.

In a unanimous decision, The Jewish Agency issued a resolution, citing his sentence as "unduly harsh" and stating that as Pollard approaches the end of his 28th year in prison, he suffers from various diseases and his health is failing. "The Jewish Agency calls for the immediate release of Pollard on humanitarian grounds, and asks the President, Barack Obama, to grant him a pardon immediately," the statement said.

The Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel elected Natan Sharansky to a second term as Chairman on Tuesday. Sharansky's first term began in June 2009.

Sharansky told the gathering that "today, there is a growing consensus to free Pollard among officials in the Pentagon, former CIA officials, attorneys, community leaders, the Israeli government, and the heads of Jewish communities in the U.S.

"The time has come to call for his freedom in a loud voice," Sharansky said, adding "28 years is far too long."