Biden agrees to meeting on Pollard

October 5, 2011

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Vice President Joe Biden has agreed to meet with Jewish communal leaders to discuss the case of Jonathan Pollard.

Biden made the commitment at the end of a Rosh Hashanah reception Wednesday at the vice president's residence, Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told JTA. Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, confirmed the conversation.

The New York Times recently reported that during a recent meeting in Florida, Biden told a group of rabbis that “President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, ‘Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time.’”

Hoenlein and other Jewish organizational leaders from across the political and religious spectrum have called on successive presidents to grant clemency to Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for spying for Israel. In recent months, Obama has received a flood of clemency appeals on behalf of Pollard from members of Congress, former U.S. government officials and Israeli officials.

Pollard recently underwent kidney-related surgery that was deemed successful.

Hoenlein said he asked Biden to give Jewish leaders the chance to make the case for Pollard’s release -- and, in response, the vice president apparently agreed to hold a small meeting in order to have an “open and frank discussion” about the issue.

Biden also agreed that the meeting “would happen very soon,” Hoenlein said. “He takes it seriously and understands there is a concern in the community. I hope the meeting will be soon after Yom Kippur.”

Hoenlein said it was Biden's meeting, so the vice president would decide who will attend.

The vice president's office could not immediately be reached for comment.



http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/10/05/3089726/hoenlein-biden-agrees-to-meeting-on-pollard

But setting Pollard free might earn Obama the votes of Orthodox Jews who rather dislike him. Like that village in New Square, Rockland County, New York. It might help in Florida too.

I take no position, BTW, on this issue.

The U.S. was already sharing everything with the Israeli government.

He's being treated as spies are often treated. Why should this guy get any special consideration?

You don't need to spy on your ALLIES, for gosh sakes.

is helpful to itself not to cause harm on its ally, unlike non allies who spy on each other for purposes ranging from simple info gathering to very harmful intent.

That said if you are a spy and you are caught you need to be prepared to pay the price regardless if ally or not. Dont do the crime if you cant do the time as the saying goes.
Fuck Pollard, Ames, Hansen and the many other spies and traitors who need to rot in prison.

On a side note Vannunu was a traitor to Israel for giving out the info he did and deserved prison just like the spies and traitors caught in the US did. Many have a double standard when it comes to Israel and think Vannunu should not be punished and or deserves special consideration.

If they ever used the Bomb on any Arab countries, the geography of the region would blow a good amount of the fallout back on to themselves.

Nuclear weapons haven't done Israel any real good.

You can't show any evidence that having the bomb has actually been a good thing for Israel.

Israel had a policy of intentional ambiguity regarding nukes and this DID offer benefits. Vanunu gave tons of specific, classified information that went way beyond confirming that Israel merely possessed nukes.

Regardless, it was never his decision to make. Israel's a democracy. They elected officials to make choices regarding Israel's defensive strategy. What if everyone acted like Vanunu and ignored the law in favor of our own individual ideas? He had no way of knowing the ramifications of his actions as he was only privvy to a tiny bit of information. His actions were of the utmost seriousness. I'm shocked they ever let him out.

Nuclear weapons haven't done Israel any real good.

Pure speculation. There is no way you could possibly know this one way or the other.

Then why do we do it?

Where do you get this info from?

The U.S. was already sharing everything with the Israeli government.

That's absurd. Not only is it certainly untrue, you have absolutely no evidence to support it. You just make shit up all the time and convince yourself that it is factually accurate. It's so weird.

To be perfectly blunt about it, the guy is very lucky he wasn't hanged by the neck until he was dead, dead, dead.

We've killed others for less. Spying is spying, and it's not really salient if you're spying for an ally. It's likely that the US wants to discourage this kind of behavior, and Pollard serves as a warning to others. He's only, what 24 or so years into a life sentence? Still a young man, too--in his later fifties. I'm thinking they want him to have a little more snow on the rooftop before they show him any grace or favor.


He can play the "Israeli citizen" card all he wants, but he's only an Israeli because he applied for said citizenship after he got caught and renounced his US citizenship.

I don't think a death penalty sentence was appropriate for this guy, because he was stupid, easily led, and had that "EXODUS" mentality that was fostered by his handlers, but by the same token, he shouldn't have done what he did without being plainly aware of the consequences. And frankly, he was pretty damn stupid, too in how he went about doing what he did. He was one of those weirdos who lies about everything--he made up stories about himself, his parents, and his importance in the world--he had a need to be a big shot, I guess.

His name is mud to many who had to jump through a bunch of absurd and asinine security/classification hoops as a consequence of his actions. Boy, did he make getting a clearance for access to the stupidest crap a drill!

the mostest, which party will free Pollard? gee it ought to be 'fun' to watch

There is no way that anything you said will enter the realm of reality.

or do you know Obama will free Pollard?

eta your post would indicate that I would support the Republicans using Pollard as a wedge issue? I pointed out what is becoming a trend in US politics which party or candidate most 'supports' Israel

I am guaranteeing that the Republicans will not use Pollard as a "wedge issue" in the upcoming election.

that can be summoned up, the polls right now are not looking too good for them