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Last update - 10:23 04/09/2007
How Israel failed to free Pollard
By Lenny Ben-David

I truly believe that Jonathan Pollard could have been released seven years ago, between the November 2000 presidential election and George W. Bush's inauguration in January 2001. Indeed, in my capacity as Israel's number two diplomat in Washington, I drafted a confidential memo to Israel's leadership early in 1999 presenting a comprehensive strategy for securing a presidential pardon for Pollard from the lame-duck president, Bill Clinton, during the three months of the American interregnum.

Because the memorandum was classified, it is no longer in my hands. But according to my notes, the memo recommended a comprehensive, "quiet, behind-the-scenes campaign," including the following:

b Quiet consultations with White House and media personnel to fully understand what works with Clinton, including senior advisor George Stephanopoulos, press secretary Mike McCurry, senior advisor Rahm Emmanuel and CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who knows the Pollard history.

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b Resume quiet enlistment of leading theologians to sign a private letter to Clinton asking for Pollard's release, including Billy Graham, Notre Dame president Theodore Hesburgh, leading rabbis, etc.

b Immediate quiet consultations with lawyers and public relations consultants, including some of Pollard's former lawyers, former prosecutors, etc.

b "Maintenance" of Pollard and his wife - hiring a "case worker" who would maintain regular contact, handling health issues, providing for holiday needs, handling personal requests, arranging for synagogue and school mailings to Pollard.

b Developing "release strategies" if full and total release is not in the cards. These could include halfway houses, exile to a Negev kibbutz or yeshiva, paying for an American guard to make sure there is no contact with intelligence sources, promises of a low profile, etc. (If and when he is released, imagine the anger in Washington if CNN showed Pollard escorted to the Western Wall by hundreds of well-wishers and press cameras.)

With a great sense of disappointment, I sensed that the strategies presented in my memorandum might have been redirected to securing the pardon of Marc Rich, an American financier who escaped to Switzerland in 1983 after being indicted for tax evasion, money laundering and illegal trading with Iran.

In the period leading up to the presidential interregnum, a major campaign was underway to secure Rich's pardon. Israel's prime minister at the time, Ehud Barak, interceded with Clinton on Rich's behalf, according to congressional testimony by then White House chief of staff John Podesta. Former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova told "Meet the Press" in February 2001: "When the prime minister of Israel, one of our closest allies, communicates with the president of the United States about a pardon, I would say to you that the president has a pretty good idea of how important the case is. The prime minister of Israel became deeply involved in this case, and he recommended a pardon."

Rich was pardoned; Pollard was not.

Jonathan Pollard should be released today for humanitarian and health reasons. Leaving aside the fact that his continued incarceration after 21 years constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment, he and two former AIPAC staffers are apparently being used today as cards in some undefined, malevolent gambit by American law enforcement officials to "teach American Jews a lesson" about ties to Israel.

Why do I release this memo now? Because a confidential strategy to secure Pollard's release, written more than a year before the end of Clinton's presidency, went astray. I hope the release of the gist of the memo today will prevent Israel's leaders from squandering another chance to secure Pollard's freedom after the November 2008 elections, if, God forbid, he is still in prison.

Ironic postscript: Between 1985 and 2000, Marc Rich was represented in the United States by a lawyer named Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who later became Vice President Richard Cheney's chief of staff. In March, Libby was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. President Bush commuted Libby's sentence last month.

The writer served as Israel's deputy chief of mission in Washington.
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  1.   POLLARD VS RAMSEY JOSEPH 10:40  |  indrajaya 04/09/07
  2.   Begs the question: How much did Rich pay Barak for the plug? 11:12  |  Nili 04/09/07
  3.   Nice Work 11:12  |  Hannah 04/09/07
  4.   Pollard 11:18  |  collond 04/09/07
  5.   Pollard is his own worst enemy 11:34  |  Natallie Durson 04/09/07
  6.   Pollard has information on The Corrupt within Israel. Ask Rafi 12:21  |  GIL GUILT 04/09/07
  7.   Pollard was a traitor to America 12:29  |  Amo Amare 04/09/07
  8.   A traitor is a traitor 12:41  |  phil 04/09/07
  9.   #5 & #7 12:49  |  rkr 04/09/07
  10.   Let him rot 12:53  |  Michael 04/09/07
  11.   Pollard 13:10  |  Scott G 04/09/07
  12.   No Justice for right-wing Jews? 13:16  |  Dutch Dirk 04/09/07
  13.   RE:No Justice for right-wing Jews? 13:27  |  RightClick 04/09/07
  14.   Lenny Davis and AIPAC 14:16  |  Jeff Gold 04/09/07
  15.   Unrealistic.... 14:33  |  Shalom 04/09/07
  16.   Israelis Took Advantage 14:35  |  Abe 04/09/07
  17.   What twadle 14:45  |  Mark Lincoln 04/09/07
  18.   lack of will 14:52  |  Avi 04/09/07
  19.   FEELING SORRY FOR POLLARD 15:01  |  COUCOUCOUCOU 04/09/07
  20.   Rafi Eitan... 15:11  |  seal 04/09/07
  21.   Bias of responders 15:52  |  howiej 04/09/07
  22.   avi 18 15:55  |  realism 04/09/07
  23.   How Israel failed to free Pollard 16:05  |  Kevin Cronin 04/09/07
  24.   Lenny, please be realistic 16:22  |  Han Nueves 04/09/07
  25.   Pollard should spend the rest of his life in jail. 16:43  |  Ibrahim 04/09/07
  26.   Asylum talk, must come first! 16:48  |  Sharif Hafez 04/09/07
  27.   wow, such incredible arrogance by Ben-David 16:54  |  Mark B. 04/09/07
  28.   Bias? Your ass, Howie! 17:00  |  bobby 04/09/07
  29.   Pollard was a traitor...sensible jews should not side with him 17:12  |  Nan 04/09/07
  30.   Pollad should die in US Prison 17:23  |  Henry 04/09/07
  31.   True Stripes 17:28  |  Double Click 04/09/07
  32.   Pollard is of the worst kind 17:42  |  Arshad 04/09/07
  33.   Pollard should be exchanged. The question is: For what? 17:47  |  Jozef 04/09/07
  34.   Free Pollard? 17:48  |  Geoff 04/09/07
  35.   Let him pay the price for High Treason... 17:53  |  Martin 04/09/07
  36.   Ben David is pathetic 18:18  |  tadchase 04/09/07
  37.   #17- " Twaddle" and Mark Lincoln 19:02  |  Yoram 04/09/07
  38.   pollard 19:20  |  goyboy 04/09/07
  39.   Pollard was lucky 19:21  |  Meir 04/09/07
  40.   Pollard is a convicted spy, he committed treason. 19:21  |  Howard 04/09/07
  41.   SPOT ON #5! 19:24  |  Mea 04/09/07
  42.   Free Pollard 19:32  |  Miransky 04/09/07
  43.   For giving secrets to enemy states, spies get less jail time... 19:32  |  Nannette 04/09/07
  44.   Pollard is a traitor - Let him rot in Jail for life 19:33  |  Voice of the USA 04/09/07
  45.   swap him for Vannunu 19:35  |  SD 04/09/07
  46.   I am disgusted... 19:46  |  Markus 04/09/07
  47.   Pollard 19:51  |  Anton Macker 04/09/07
  48.   #34 Geoff AIPAC was set up - and Israel gave US intel about Iran! 19:52  |  Nannette 04/09/07
  49.   The issue isn?t Pollards guilt but US governmental antisemitism 1 19:55  |  David Turner 04/09/07
  50.   The issue isn?t Pollards guilt but US governmental antisemitism 2 19:57  |  David Turner 04/09/07
  51.   Nan 20:19  |  Connie 04/09/07
  52.   Howiej 21:20  |  Connie 04/09/07
  53.   Pollard not convicted and not in jail 4 treason 21:27  |  nathan 04/09/07
  54.   America lets most spies from hostile countries go 21:27  |  Efox 04/09/07
  55.   Israel, Turned Pollard Down as a Spy 21:30  |  Efox 04/09/07
  56.   Israel should address America with a Heavier Hand 21:40  |  Efox 04/09/07
  57.   re: Double Click 21:43  |  Efox 04/09/07
  58.   re: Meir 21:46  |  Efox 04/09/07
  59.   re: bobby 21:48  |  Efox 04/09/07
  60.   re: Voice of the USA 21:49  |  Efox 04/09/07
  61.   re: Mark Lincoln 21:51  |  Efox 04/09/07
  62.   Ibrahim #25 21:55  |  Avi Yerushalmi 04/09/07
  63.   Pollard didnot do any damage to USA,he`s in jail as a JEW 23:09  |  sam 04/09/07
  64.   No crime was done as US agreed to give info.on terror 23:17  |  sam 04/09/07
  65.   Chump Change 23:28  |  Volodya 04/09/07
  66.   Pollard 23:34  |  P. J. Casey 04/09/07
  67.   Morison, Kim...Liberty? 23:58  |  DJStahl 04/09/07
  68.   efox 58 01:53  |  realism 05/09/07
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