Jonathan Pollard, the Dying Pawn

Unfortunately, Jay Jonathan Pollard has been forced to suffer almost three full decades of imprisonment already for a crime that the American justice system normally considers relatively minor. Officially, technically, he passed secret material to an ally, Israel. There isn't all that much of those sorts of crimes in American history. Generally, "spies" pass secrets to enemies.  And most get much, much, much lighter and shorter sentences than Pollard got.

Table I: American Allies

• Jonathan Pollard is the only person in the history of the United States to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally.

• On November 21, 2013, Pollard entered the 29th year of his life sentence, with no end in sight.

• The maximum sentence today for such an offence is 10 years.

• The median sentence for this offence is 2 to 4 years.

So it is very obvious that there's some other element involved in his punishment. It's pretty clear that his being Jewish and his giving the information to Israel added badly to his punishment/sentence. Also, American Jews who work in similar positions are subject to much more rigorous security checks and promotion difficulties than any other religious or ethnic group. I've received reports that they are treated as possible enemies, and it's blamed on Pollard.

More and more prominent Americans are admitting that there's a miscarriage of justice here and that Pollard should be released and not held hostage by the Americans and not used as a bribe to force Israel to agree to dangerous concessions. The Pollard case shouldn't be connected to any other issue. He served more than his time and should be free.

Hat tip Arutz 7

Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of both the CIA and the NSA, is against a plan to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in return for Israeli concessions with the Palestinians.
"On so many levels, this just doesn’t feel right. This is just weird. It looks like it smacks of desperation on the part of the United States and our secretary of state to do anything in order to keep this peace process alive. You know, that's a really unsettling fact," he told Newsmax TV's John Bachman and J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" Tuesday.
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Hayden-Pollard-prisoner-desperation/2014/04/01/id/563058#ixzz2y4qCHINe 

Ht tip IMRA

Shay Charko, Makor Rishon - April 4, 2014

In the meantime, Pollard's health is deteriorating, and there is less and less of a chance he will leave American jail alive.