Yet another prominent elected official, national intelligence leader, and legal professional has appealed to the President to free Jonathan Pollard.
Arlen Specter, a former Senator United States Senator who served as both Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently wrote a letter to President Obama and asked him to release Pollard, who has spent more than 25 years in a federal prison for passing classified information to Israel (the full text of the letter appears below and a copy is attached).
“Based on my experience as District Attorney of Philadelphia, Chairman of The Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman of The Senate Intelligence Committee and my studies of incarceration, I believe Jonathan Pollard has served more than long enough,” wrote Specter in his letter to the President.
“I think his spying was a very serious crime. Unfortunately, spying is not an uncommon practice even between allies and friendly nations,” continued Specter. “Considering all the factors, in my judgment Jonathan Pollard should not have a life sentence…..”
Specter, who was first elected to the United States Senate in 1980 and served five consecutive terms, is the longest-serving Senator in Pennsylvania’s history. Specter served as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 1995-1997. He succeeded former Senator Dennis DeConcini as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has also issued a public call for Pollard’s release. Specter also served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Prior to being elected to the Senate, Specter served as the District Attorney of Philadelphia from 1966-1974. A veteran of the United States Air Force and a graduate of Yale Law School, Specter also served as assistant counsel for the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Specter currently practices law in Philadelphia and teaches a course at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Specter’s call for Pollard’s release is particularly significant because of his close relationship with President Obama. In the past, Specter has earned effusive praise from the President, who was a staunch supporter of Specter’s recent re-election bid.
In addition, Specter’s statement that “[u]nfortunately, spying is not an uncommon practice even between allies and friendly nations,” is particularly noteworthy, in that it is a direct rebuttal to the disingenuous claim made numerous times during Pollard’s incarceration by elements hostile to the case in an attempt to justify the grossly disproportionate sentence Pollard received, that allies do not spy on each other.
Further, Specter’s decades of public service and his reputation as a seasoned and sophisticated statesman who has served as a high-ranking official in various judicial and intelligence roles, give his calls for Pollard’s release additional weight.
Arlen Specter’s letter to President Obama comes in the wake of numerous calls for clemency for Pollard from prominent government officials, high-ranking individuals in the national intelligence arena, leading professionals in the legal world, and renowned religious and communal leaders.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey, former White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, former Deputy Attorney General and Harvard Law Professor Philip Heymann, former Senator and Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dennis DeConcini, and Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York, each of whom had the opportunity to thoroughly review Pollard’s classified file and is fully familiar with the circumstances of his case, have called for Pollard’s release.
In addition, a wide array of American leaders have called for a commutation of Pollard’s grossly disproportionate sentence, including former Vice President Dan Quayle, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Arkansas governor and former Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Senator Charles Schumer of New York, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb, former New York City Mayor and former Republican Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, well-known conservative leader Gary Bauer, Rev. Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame, Pastor John Hagee, and Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree, who was President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama’s law professor at Harvard and remains friends with them today.
The following is the text of the letter to President Obama:
February 16, 2011
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I write to recommend the pardon of Jonathan Pollard.
Based on my experience as District Attorney of Philadelphia, Chairman of The Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman of The Senate Intelligence Committee and my studies of incarceration, I believe Jonathan Pollard has served more than long enough.
I think his spying was a very serious crime. Unfortunately, spying is not an uncommon practice even between allies and friendly nations.
Considering all the factors, in my judgment Jonathan Pollard should not have a life sentence without parole or a pardon.
Sincerely,
Arlen Specter
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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8 Responses
Please let’s couple the this-wordly efforts of so many people with our own spiritual efforts! Mention Yehonasan ben Malka in Shema Koleinu, say Tehillim, study the daily halachos of shemiras halashon. Obama is not exactly an oheiv Yisrael, but “lev melachim ve’sarim be’yad Hashem” and if we show our caring for a fellow Jew, our achdus can arouse the middas harachamim. May Hashem disturb Obama’s sleep as He did to Achashveirosh “balayla hahu…” and send the yeshuas haklal vehaprat speedily in our day.
Pollard and Rubashkin are the U.S. prisoners of Zion, sent to remind us that “medina shel chesed” has no chesed for us.
#2,
Prisoners of Zion??? Give me a break! The medinah shel chesed has plenty of chesed for those who obey its laws, not for those who break them.
expert — Although I support the release of both of these individuals, the cases of Pollard and Rubashkin are very different. Pollard was convicted of a somewhat serious crime that he clearly committed. His sentence was excessive and out of line with the crime he committed, but he definitely deserved some of what he got.
Rubashkin is in a much more questionable situation. Although accused of other things, the only crime he was found guilty of (bank fraud) was a crime committed after a very irregular raid on the plant and various inappropriate maneuvering afterwards forced the company into bankruptcy. Obviously that is not an excuse, but there is certainly room to argue that the highly questionable actions by the justice department with regard to this case “pushed” Rubashkin into a corner that caused him to lie on the loan application. And it is even more likely that without the unreasonable restrictions the justice department attached to the sale of the business, he would have been able to pay back the loan in its entirety despite the fraud, which would have made it a victimless crime.
Despite the fact that anti-Semitism in various forms is obviously alive and well in the US (hey, it’s a “halacha” after all), on the whole the “Medina Shel Chessed” has done the most Chessed for Klal Yisroel in our entire history of galus. These cases definitely remind us that we are in Galus, but that does not minimize the tremendous Hakaros Hatov we must feel for this medina shel chessed!
Yes, some gedolim called this country “madina shel chesed” – and it’s true. Whenever there is some kind of disaster, from Haiti to Indonesia, this country will always provide abundant humanitarian help. But if you think about it, “medina shel chesed” is really a kitrug: during WW2 no real assistance was offered to save our people’s lives, Soviet Jews were so unimportant as to be gassed(Nixon&Kissinger conversation), consistently applying pressure to force Israel into another Holocaust(chas vesholom). When the big judgment will come, some cruel countries will try to defend their ill treatment of Jews, claiming that they were cruel to everyone; while “medina shel chesed” – to all except the Jews – will be the biggest kitrug.
So much “chesed” was done in this medina, that we probably lost more to assimilation than in WW2.
to #4
When given a choice whether to be punched in the face or to be shot, obvious “chesed” would be an option to be punched in the face. However, that still doesn’t make the punch something to have “tremendous Hakaros Hatov” for.
to #3,
Prisoner of Zion is someone who gets a discriminatory un-proportionally harsh legal treatment due to being a Jew. By the way Charlie, from crossing on a red light to “enhancing” a home-mortgage application to “mishandling” classified information, 99.9% of American population break the law daily – with impunity.