25th Anniversary Review Series – Article #21
By Esther Pollard

Justice4JPnews – May 18, 2010
To mark Jonathan Pollard’s 25th year in American captivity – which is also
his 25th year of abandonment and betrayal by the government of Israel – J4JP
will be reviewing some of the best-written, most informative, and most
interesting articles, essays and information written about the case over the
last two and a half decades.
This is article number 21 of the series. It was written in March 2005 by
Esther Pollard and published as an exclusive commentary by Worldnetdaily,
following Jonathan Pollard’s final Appellate Court Hearing in 2005. This
hearing was yet another attempt to bring Jonathan’s case back to court so
that the merits of his case might be heard. To this day, the merits of
Jonathan’s case have never been heard in a court of law. It is fitting to
repeat the previous statement so that the reader can fully grasp the fact
that a man has been held, and continues to be held, in an American prison
for twenty-five years even though the merits of his case have never been
heard in a court of law!

All of Jonathan Pollard’s legal avenues in the United States have been
exhausted. The final avenue of appeal, the US Supreme Court has also ducked
the Pollard case repeatedly, refusing to hear it. For those who are
wondering, the US Supreme Court does not have to explain why it refuses to
hear a case.

The continued incarceration of Jonathan Pollard, now in his 25th year of a
life sentence with no end in sight is America’s badge of shame and Israel’s
dishonor.

The article below contains a wealth of information which must shock and
alarm fair-minded readers. It needs no further introduction.

George Washington, Jonathan Pollard and The Jews
Esther Pollard – Worldnetdaily Exclusive Commentary – March 24, 2005
THE HEARING
“The problem with Mr. Pollard is that he thinks he is unique.”
These words were spoken about my husband, Jonathan Pollard, by a judge in
the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia.
Jonathan is in his 20th year of an unprecedented life sentence for his
activities on behalf of Israel. On March 15, 2005, Jonathan’s pro bono
attorneys, Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, appeared before a panel of
three judges in the US Appeals Court. Despite outward appearances,
Jonathan’s case was never heard.
One of the judges, Judge Karen Henderson, asked no questions and made no
comments of any kind. Another judge, Judge Judith Rogers, briefly engaged
counsel for both sides. The third judge, Judge David Sentelle dominated the
hearing. He was openly hostile, mocking and scornful.
Unchallenged by the other two judges, Judge Sentelle hijacked the hearing.
He side-tracked the oral argument, verbally harassing and nitpicking on
irrelevant matters until the attorneys’ time was up. Consequently, the only
one heard that day was Judge Sentelle; and much of what he said was either
irrelevant or deeply offensive.
For example, Judge Sentelle went so far as to insist that in this case the
court does not have the authority to allow Jonathan’s security-cleared
attorneys access to their client’s own sentencing file. How much more
obvious could Sentelle’s contempt be, than to suggest that the court has no
authority over court documents!
Worse, Judge Sentelle’s hostile declaration, “The problem with Mr. Pollard
is that he thinks he is unique” was deeply offensive to Jews and
reverberated painfully in Israeli media reports.
“You are not unique” is code talk that has been used over and over again
throughout the ages by those hostile to Israel and Jews, to deny concerns
that Jews are being singled out for ‘special treatment.’ It is the most
routine of anti-Semitic devices, and it seems that it is always used
precisely when Jews are indeed being singled out.
What makes Judge Sentelle’s remark even more stunning, is that it so
blatantly flies in the face of the facts.
THE CASE IS UNIQUE
Here are some of the unique features of the Pollard case which Judge
Sentelle wishes to dismiss:
Jonathan Pollard is the only person in the history of the United States to
receive a life sentence for spying for an ally.
Jonathan is in his 20th year of a life sentence for an offense which carries
a median sentence of 2 to 4 years.
Jonathan received his life sentence without benefit of trial, as the result
of a plea bargain which he honored and the Government abrogated.
Jonathan was forever deprived of his legal right to a direct appeal of his
life sentence, because of egregious ineffective assistance of counsel. His
first attorney failed to file a simple notice of intent to appeal.
Jonathan’s is the only espionage case in which then-Secretary of Defense
Casper Weinberger personally intervened to influence the court.
Weinberger delivered a memorandum to the sentencing judge, falsely accusing
Jonathan of treason – a crime he was never accused of nor indicted for – and
called for the maximum sentence of life.
Since Jonathan was sentenced in 1987, neither he nor his security-cleared
attorneys have ever been permitted to access the Weinberger document to
challenge the lies it contains in a court of law.
Jonathan is still not permitted to access the document even though
Weinberger himself admitted in a 2002 interview that the case against
Jonathan Pollard was actually “a small matter” and that it had been blown up
and “made far bigger than its actual importance.”
(http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2002/061402.htm)
CRUEL AND UNUSAL PUNISHMENT
Another unique feature of this case is the repeated attempts by the FBI to
make Jonathan “buy” his way out of nightmarish prison conditions by
incriminating other prominent American Jews. He was repeatedly asked to
point out “co-conspirators” on list of Jewish names he was shown. Jonathan
adamantly refused.
More troubling still, are the numerous episodes of cruel and unusual
punishment which Jonathan has been subjected to – not only at the start of
this case, but even as recently as the fall of 2003 when he was held in
Washington for two weeks pending a September 2nd court date
Some examples of cruel and unusual punishment Jonathan has endured include:
being held naked, and incommunicado, in a prison facility for the criminally
insane for a over a year (at Springfield)
being held in harsh conditions in solitary confinement for nearly 7 years
(at Marion)
being held naked, and incommunicado, in freezing temperatures in a dungeon
cell (at Lewisberg)
being subjected to extreme sensory deprivation
being subjected to severe physical degradation
being held in a sealed cell and gassed with chemical spray
being chained to a shower stall and blasted by torrents of ice water for
long periods at a stretch
being denied appropriate medical treatment
being deprived of critical medication
being zapped into convulsions with an electric cattle prod
POLITICS NOT JUSTICE
Perhaps the feature of this case which is the most disturbing is the way in
which it has been exploited over the last 2 decades by Government agencies.
Jonathan’s continued incarceration has been a very useful tool for the
Government in the following ways:
The case is used to undermine Israel.
To blacken Israel by blackening her agent, “unnamed” American officials
continue to slander Jonathan in the media, falsely accusing him of crimes he
was never accused of or indicted for – treason, compromising codes and
betraying agents, among others. These false accusations are always made in
the media, never in a court of law where Jonathan might challenge his
accusers.
The case is used to slander Jews
Government memos, like the one the Defense Department issued in 1996 which
was leaked to the media, cite the Pollard case as the reason the Jews cannot
be trusted. The 1996 Defense Memo identified Israel as a “non- traditional
adversary”, not an ally. The Pollard case is always dredged up and paraded
in the media by the Government officials any time a new spy case breaks, or
whenever Israel needs to be brought to heel. The 1997 Mega Spy Scandal
(which turned out to be baseless) and the recent AIPAC Spy Scandal are
examples. Both cases had nothing to do with Jonathan Pollard, yet his name
was blasted all over the media as the prime example of how Israel and the
Jews cannot be trusted.
The case is used to pander to the Arabs
In the government’s damage assessment of the case – the Victim Impact
Statement – the worst “damage” that Jonathan was accused of was that he had
angered the Arab allies by making Israel too strong. The harsh sentence he
received and the “special treatment” he has been subjected to, has been and
continues to be an “offering” to appease the oil-rich Arabs.
The case is used to purge Jews from Government.
Jonathan was not the cause of anti-Semitism in the Intelligence Community;
he was one of its victims. But his case is still used to justify Government
witch-hunts to root out Jews in sensitive positions and cancel their
security clearances. The David Tanenbaum and Adam Ciralsky cases – both were
Jews ousted from the Intelligence community because of their affiliation
with Israel – are examples of this purge.
HIDING BEHIND A VEIL OF SECRECY
The Justice, Intelligence and Defense Departments willingly collude to keep
the truth about the Pollard case buried. This ensures that the Government
can continue to exploit the case for other purposes, such as the above. It
also explains why the Government is so determined to keep Jonathan’s own
court docket hidden under a veil of secrecy.
The best legal minds in the country support Jonathan’s right to access the
material in his own sentencing docket. The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), The
American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (AAJLJ) and prominent
individuals have filed a “Friend of the Court Brief” in support of access to
the documents. Their Amicus brief expresses some compelling concerns about
this case.
Others who have expressed their concerns about this case are: Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said that she is troubled by ‘sentencing issues’
in the Pollard case; http://www.jonathanpollard.org/ciralsky.htm, the number
3 man at the justice department when the Pollard case broke, has repeatedly
said that there is nothing in the Pollard file to justify the sentence he
received; Senator Charles Schumer, Congressman Anthony Weiner and other
American legislators have voiced similar concerns. All those who have seen
the classified file, including Schumer and Weiner, say that it does not
contain any justification for the life sentence Jonathan received.
And then there’s Dennis Ross, Special Envoy to the Middle East during the
Clinton Administration. In his new book, THE MISSING PEACE, Ross openly
acknowledges that Jonathan’s sentence is disproportionate and that he should
be freed without condition.
Nevertheless, says Ross, Jonathan is too valuable as a bargaining chip with
Israel to be freed as a matter of simple justice. Instead, Ross explains,
Pollard should go free only in return for major concessions from Israel
during “final status talks” with the Palestinians. No other American ally is
treated with such disdain. Clearly it is politics, not justice which drives
the Pollard case.
THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH MR. POLLARD
No, Judge Sentelle. The problem is not with Jonathan Pollard.
It is with those American officials who, through 5 successive
administrations, have used this case as a device to call into question the
loyalty of American Jews and Israel’s reliability as an ally.
The problem is with those officials in the Justice, Intelligence and Defense
Departments who allow the case to fester because it is such a fine weapon
with which to bludgeon Israel and the Jews.
And of course, the problem lies with Israel and the American Jewish
leadership whose silence and complicity have exacerbated the situation and
prolonged Jonathan’s agony. By continuously turning their backs on
Government excesses and judicial inequities in the Pollard case, they have
tried to convince themselves that this really has nothing to do with them.
Then along comes Judge Sentelle and reminds them that it does.
Israel and the American Jewish leaders have sat back for nearly 2 decades,
patiently waiting for the American justice system to prove that it works as
well for Jews as it does for every other religious minority. Yet, every time
Jonathan Pollard – the Jew who spied for the Jewish state – encounters the
American justice system, the entire Jewish world is slapped in the face all
over again.
GEORGE WASHINGTON AND JONATHAN POLLARD
Two hundred years ago, President George Washington visited the Truro
Synagogue of the Jewish community of Rhode Island. He later penned a letter
to the community declaring that Jews are welcome as full citizens of the
United States of America and equal in every respect:
“It is now no more that toleration is spoken of,” Washington wrote, “as if
it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the
exercise of their inherent natural rights.” He also declared that the
government gave “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”
Denied justice for 20 years, Jonathan’s case has become a noxious poison
draining the vitality of the American Jewish community and undermining
America’s relationship with Israel. If the promise that George Washington
made to American Jews two hundred years ago is to be honored; if the Jewish
community in America is to have a future in this country, then justice for
Jonathan Pollard, long delayed, must finally be done.
The Pollard case is not only about Jonathan Pollard. It is about America’s
real attitude towards Jews and its relationship with Israel. It is also
about whether or not the nation which is so devoted to bringing freedom to
other parts of the world is capable of freeing itself. Government lies and
judicial collusion are keeping Jonathan Pollard in prison. It is time for
them to stop.
As long as Jonathan Pollard remains in prison, truth and justice in America
are in prison too.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 and is filed under action.