The White House closed the door on Jonathan Pollard’s quest for a pardon, with White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta saying that President Clinton opposes an early release for the confessed spy for Israel at this time.
Appeals on Pollard’s behalf are being “looked at,” but “it is not a position that the president at this point, in terms of pardon, feels is justified because of the act that he was convicted of,” Panetta said this week over CNN’s call-in news program, “Late Edition.”
Pollard, a former U.S. Navy civilian intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty 10 years ago to stealing secrets for the Israeli government. He is currently serving a life sentence.
Pollard, was eligible for parole late last year, but the date for a meeting of the parole board has been delayed several times.
Pollard now is seeking parole, according to Rabbi Avi Weiss, president of AMCHA-Coalition for Jewish Concerns and Pollard’s personal rabbi.
Weiss, who spoke to Pollard Sunday, said he has “suffered mercilessly in prison over the last 10 years,” and was “understandably upset” when he heard about the CNN program.
“I am distressed because it was so emphatic,” Weiss said of Panetta’s remarks. “I really think it is a slap in the face of the [Israeli] prime minister who made a very serious request that Jonathan be freed.”
A caller to the CNN program from Tel Aviv said a majority of Israelis believe it would be a humanitarian gesture to free Pollard.
“I recognize and respect the views that you’ve expressed,” Panetta responded. “The concern we have is that this is someone who was caught spying against the United States, and obviously is paying a penalty for that.”
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres have appealed to both Presidents Bush and Clinton for clemency for Pollard.
In addition, many American Jewish organizations have called for a presidential pardon or for Pollard’s sentences to be commuted to time served.
Peres’ government recently granted Pollard’s request for Israeli citizenship.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials in Washington denied a published report that Pollard cut short a prison meeting with an Israeli consul official this week, ostensibly because he felt the official was not high-ranking enough.
The Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported Monday that Atlanta Council Eitan Surkis- Almog visited Pollard at the federal prison in Butner, N.C. Pollard reportedly said that the U.S. government would not take his case seriously if the Israeli government did not.
Pollard had earlier demanded a meeting with Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Itamar Rabinovich.
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.
