MKs to Netanyahu: Bring Pollard home

Gil Hoffman - The Jerusalem Post - October 1, 2014 Netanyahu expected to use meeting to focus on Iran, Islamic State, and proposal to involve moderate Arab countries in solving the conflict with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should ask US President Barack Obama in their meeting Wednesday to commute the life sentence of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard to the nearly 29 years he has served, the heads of the pro-Pollard Knesset caucus said Tuesday.

The meeting is expected to focus on Iran, Islamic State, and Netanyahu's proposal to involve moderate Arab countries in solving the conflict with the Palestinians. But MKs Nachman Shai (Labor) and Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) said Pollard's release on humanitarian grounds should be on the table, too.

"The years are passing and nothing is happening," the MKs said in a joint statement. "Pollard remains in prison and there is no release date. There is no value in continuing to hold him. His fate should not be tied to that of Palestinian prisoners. He has served too long and it is time to free him."

Effi Lahav, who heads the Pollard campaign, said that in addition to matters of justice and Pollard's frail health, there is a new reason to release him: the collaboration of Israel and the US in fighting terror.

"The strategic cooperation, including in intelligence, between Israel and the US in the war on terror proves more than ever that the Pollard saga must end," Lahav said.

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