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Jewish Leaders Must Extract A Moral Thorn Jonathan Pollard must be freed
By Anne Roiphe
Phil Baum, Abraham Foxman, Robert Rifkin and all the members of the
Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations: You cannot push
this away forever. Jonathan Pollard is on our consciences, giving us
collective and private nightmares -- and you know it.
There is a growing swell of concern and anxiety in the community. Rabbi
Avi Weiss' recent request for a religious court suit against the
Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, Rabbi Irving
Greenberg's statement in Mr. Pollard's defense that "Enough is enough!"
and Elie Wiesel's words, "Now is the time for human compassion," confirm the rising sentiment in the community, one whispered even in the corridors
of all the major Jewish organizations, that Mr. Pollard has become a
moral thorn deep in our hearts. The leadership is telling us it doesn't
matter that this man who spied for Israel was given a life sentence
without parole, a punishment far greater than that given other men and women who've spied for America's allies.
Jonathan Pollard has been in prison for 13 years, often in isolation.
We ordinary Jews who don't run organizations and are not privy to the
complicated political balancing of truth against deception can't
comprehend why our leadership does not call out for equal justice under
the law in this case.
In America, thousands of murderers and molesters are released after only
a few years in prison, but a man who was both conflicted and passionate
in his loyalty, who did what he thought was right for a country he
loved, who admits his guilt, is still behind bars without hope for
freedom. Why is this? Jews at first were frightened by the dual-loyalty
accusation. It seemed bad for all the Jewish employees of the State
Department. It seemed to particularly to frighten or shame our
leadership that a Jew had betrayed America.
But would the Irish community be embarrassed if it was one theirs trying
to defend Ireland? Are Jews in America still so fragile and defensive?
Why was Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger so vindictive? Was he afraid
of something Mr. Pollard might reveal about other secrets America was
keeping from Israel? This we will never know, but what we do know is
that American justice has turned to vengeance in the Pollard case, and
that we can no longer ignore. It endangers us as American citizens.
On Dec. 8, Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Sylvan Shalom announced to
the Knesset that the Government would now act openly to obtain Mr.
Pollard's release. At last. Today, Arab terrorists still return to
their homes in Government deals while Mr. Pollard remains in prison.
America should have given whatever Israel needed over the table. I am
surprised that the Jewish leadership did not loudly protest the State
Department's unfriendliness to a friend in jeopardy. Maybe there is a good
reason for that decorum. Maybe they didn't want to rock the
international boat. Maybe they were too timid, or maybe not. But the fact
is that Mr. Pollard, a real human being who believed he was acting in
Israel's best interest, has been squeezed between the big players and is
suffering on and on, his life mutilated.
It is like watching an awful accident in slow motion. Mr. Pollard lies
beneath the wheels of politicians: our own leadership, the State
Department, the Israelis who are watching out for their hides. And we
the Jewish public know that this isn't right. I have heard the argument
that Mr. Pollard is expendable for the good of the community. But Jews
do not sacrifice our own. The good of the community must rest where it
always has in America: on equal applications of the law, and on our
faith in our personal and communal dignity being equal to that of all
other citizens.
Jonathan Pollard has expressed remorse. He shouldn't have spied on the
United States, even if he thought he was protecting our beloved, and he
has paid for his deed. I have been asked if he is crazy, as if a
positive answer would alter the justice issue. I have heard people
complain that they don't like his second wife or they don't like his
friends. I have heard rumors, untrue, that he spied for China for money.
This is a man with many enemies, all of whom want the rest of us to stop
mentioning his name.
But we can't stop, because, as his incarceration continues, he becomes a
special kind of tragic political prisoner. Abe Foxman, director of the
Anti-Defamation League -- you are a man of courage and honor. Jonathan
Pollard should be your cause because you understand that if he can be
crumpled up and thrown away, so can I and you and the rest of us.
Mr. Baum, the executive director of the American Jewish Congress, has
said there is no issue of anti-Semitism in the Pollard case. Maybe we
haven't found the smoking gun, but most of us believe that in some way
this unequal treatment, this odd matter of why Israel didn't already
have the information Mr. Pollard gave them, is related to anti-Semitism.
Today, Mr. Pollard has no information that is not old news. He is no
threat today to our State Department or to Israel's Mossad. He is just a
man locked up too long.
He is not Dreyfus. He did do what he is accused of doing. Nevertheless, there's an echo of the Dreyfus affair, a sense that one man should not be singled out for such severe punishment, an aura that evokes memories of other Jews unjustly jailed or lynched. We cannot remain calm when there is even a hint of anti-Semitism from our courts. Wishing the hints away, Mr. Baum, does not convince us that all is well in our Republic. And the same for Mr. Rifkin, president of the American Jewish Committee.
I agree that the Jewish community has many pressing issues on its table.
It always has. It always will. Jonathan Pollard is just one man, and
some among us think that is reason enough to ignore his plight. But it
doesn't work that way. We are who we are because of how we respond to
those of our own who need our help. We do not ignore the hungry or the
desperate merely because they're powerless. So, too, we cannot ignore
Jonathan Pollard sitting in jail and listening to the steel bars slam
again and again.
The Jewish leadership has a chance to show our young people that we have
ideals and principles, even when it's difficult, when it appears that we
are making ourselves unpopular. This is one issue in Jewish life that is
not of the Left or the Right, the Orthodox or the secular. It brings us
together and reminds us that we are one people, both vulnerable and
strong. We will keep our covenant by standing together. We need to let
our young people know that we will not allow ourselves to be singled out
for especially harsh treatment, and that whatever went on at the State
Department that put Israel's survival at risk we do not accept as
normal. This is a matter in which noise is required. Such is politics in
the real world. Everyone who cares much speak up. The Jewish leaders may
one day respond to their constituency.
Acclaimed novelist Anne Roiphe is a friend of JWR.
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