Jonathan Pollard, the former U.S. Navy analyst convicted of spying for Israel, has married the head of a Canadian group seeking his release.
The ceremony took place recently at the Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, N.C., where Pollard is serving a life sentence. The bride is Elaine Zeitz, who heads Citizens for Justice for Jonathan Pollard, Canada.
Zeitz would not say exactly when the wedding took place, or who performed it.
“We’re not giving out any details right now,” said Zeitz. “Jonathan is still the most monitored, most harassed, most abused prisoner in the American system at this time, and literally everything has an influence on him” and his conditions, she explained.
In March, President Clinton turned down Pollard’s petition for clemency, as had President Bush before him. Zeitz vows to continue the struggle for Pollard’s release, saying the American public needed to understand “what is at stake: No one in a democracy is safe if they can do to one person what they did to Jonathan.”
She said that she and Pollard hope to make a life together in Israel when he is released. “We look forward to having a joyful (wedding) ceremony, in full view, where we would be happy to share the details,” said Zeitz.
Pollard divorced his first wife, Anne, in the spring of 1991. She had been paroled in April 1990 after serving 40 months of a five-year jail term in connection with Jonathan’s espionage activities.
Zeitz said she “reconnected” with Pollard four years ago, when she began working for his release. She would not say how or when she originally met him.
“We wish them good luck,” said Morris Pollard, Jonathan’s father. “It’s something Jonathan really had a desire for and I can’t say I blame him for it. He’s been very lonely. Life for him has been very lonely.”
Rabbi Avi Weiss, who describes himself as Pollard’s personal rabbi, said he did not perform the ceremony. Zeitz would not comment on this.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
