Justice4JPnews: Historic Editorial reveals what needs to be done NOW to save Jonathan Pollard

Pollard Update & Action Item
Justice4JPnews – May 5, 2015
Historic Editorial reveals what needs to be done NOW to save Jonathan
Pollard.
Please read the following historic editorial; share; act! G-d Bless!

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Editorial: A Matter of Priority

Hamodia [NY] – Editorial – April 22, 2015

May be reprinted with credit to Hamodia

NB: [Translations in square brackets added by J4JP]

When President Obama held back-to-back meetings with leaders of major Jewish
organizations and Jewish supporters – including major political
contributors – it would have been the perfect opportunity for them to plead
with the president about something that ought to have been at the very top
of the list of priorities.

Tragically, it wasn’t.

After the meetings, it became apparent that not a single one of the more
than 30 Jewish individuals present at the meetings rose to the occasion. The
president had invited them to the White House in order to try to alleviate
the deeply rooted concerns within the Jewish community about the deal with
Iran, and to convince them that he values his relationship with American
Jewry and shares their concerns about the safety of Israel and the threat of
a nuclear-armed Iran.

We can only imagine what would have occurred had these organizational
leaders and advocates decided to use the rare opportunity of a face-to-face
meeting with the president to actually do something important and
meaningful.

We can only imagine the enormous unity that would have occurred had they
responded by saying: “Mr. President, since you are seeking to assure us all
that you are sensitive to our concerns and truly dedicated to having a
strong and productive relationship with both American Jewry and the people
of Israel, we ask you to make a concrete gesture to this effect.

“Mr. President, the best assurance that Israel and the American Jewish
community are indeed protected and favorably considered by your
administration is the dispensation of equal justice. Don’t just tell us you
care. Please, show us. End the travesty of justice perpetrated on an Israeli
agent who has been sitting in an American prison for a grossly
disproportionate 30 years, with no respite. Release Jonathan Pollard and
send him home to Israel. That will reassure us more than all the fine words
and expressions of solidarity that we are hearing now. Thank you, Mr.
President.”

We will never know what the president’s response would have been, since that
request sadly wasn’t made. What we do know is that a perfect opportunity for
a significant act of hishtadlus [intensive personal effort] for pidyon
shevuyim [the release of a captive] was missed.

For the past few years, the Bureau of Prisons had indicated a “30-year
mandatory release date” of November 2015 for Pollard. However, in a recent
written communication, the Parole Commission blatantly indicated to Jonathan
that this date isn’t automatic, and there is every likelihood that they will
insist he serve 45 years to natural life, Rachmana litzlan [Heaven forbid!].

In the coming months, the U.S. government will lay down its final position
on whether it will finally relent and grant him parole. Therefore, the next
weeks and months are vital in the effort to obtain his release.

As readers of Hamodia are well aware, it is now clear to every intelligent
observer that the reason Jonathan is still in prison isn’t because of what
he did three decades ago. No one else who did what he did has served
anything near the term that Jonathan already has. He is still in jail
because of who he is and whom he tried to help.

In every generation, it was our willingness to be moser nefesh
[self-sacrificing] on behalf of our brethren that earned us the respect of
governments the world over. It seems almost inconceivable that a people
which on numerous occasions, through the strength of unity and
determination, rescued Jews from the claws of vicious dictatorships should
lose its courage and remain silent when it comes to ending a travesty being
perpetrated by a malchus shel chessed [a country of grace].

We are privileged to live in a democracy, where we are expected to speak up
against acts of injustice, especially one of such magnitude. Those who
prefer to sweep the tragic saga of Jonathan Pollard under the political rug
are essentially making a mockery of the Jewish people in the eyes of the
nations.

With the exception of the handful of individuals who have worked tirelessly
on Jonathan’s behalf for many years, all of us are at fault for what
happened last week in the White House. For far too long, we as a community
have largely remained silent while this sacred mitzvah of pidyon shevuyim
[the redemption of a captive] has been relegated to the back burner for the
sake of political correctness.

The day will come that each and every one of us will be asked: A Jew named
Yehonoson ben Malka [Jonathan Pollard] sat in an American prison because he
was a Jew. What did you do to help him see the light of freedom?

At that moment of truth, no excuses will be accepted.

As Jews, we are cognizant of the fact that ultimately we will be judged not
by our successes but by how hard we tried. It is imperative that all of us
do our part to end this terrible injustice and obtain freedom for one of our
own. We must not only extensively lobby every elected official who can
possibly sway the president, but must also place pressure on the leadership
of Jewish organizations and make it clear that the sacred obligation of
pidyon shevuyim [redemption of a captive] for Jonathan Pollard must be at
the very top of their priority list.

View original article. http://hamodia.com/2015/04/21/a-matter-of-priority/

SEE ALSO:

Document (PDF): Pollard is in prison because of a Lie – Letter by 8 Senior
US Officials – http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2014/111414.pdf

Hamodia Editorial: Our Brother’s Blood
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2015/033115.htm

JPost Editorial: Prisoner of Zion in America
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Prisoner-of-Zion-in-the-US-383577

JPost Editorial: America, Wake up!
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/America-wake-up-394534

Video: Top US Officials: Free Pollard Now!

JUSTICE FOR JONATHAN POLLARD
Website: http://www.JonathanPollard.org
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http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=67169