UPDATE: Pollard Should Have Been Executed Says US Ambassador to Israel: Refuting Jones' Lies

Sometimes the US Diplomatic staff is not very, well, diplomatic. Witness James Baker's "They have my phone number" comment to the US Congress when he was sec of state, and asked about the last time he spoke to Israel. Or Colin Powell's expressing of disappointment when Israel decided to defend her self after homicide bombers blew up scores of civilians.

But today, the state department's lack of diplomacy hit a new low. At a conference on US/Israel relations at Bar Ilan University, US Ambassador Richard "Dick" Jones held true to his nickname and in a comment reminiscent of of James Baker's "F**K the Jews" comment, this "Dick" answered a question about Jonathan Pollard with "The fact that he wasn't executed shows that he was treated mercifully."

Excuse me? First of all the man was not convicted of a capitol offense. Forget the fact that Pollard prison term is much longer than anyone else that has been convicted of his crime. Even Forget the fact that Cap Weinberger, has said the the charges were exaggerated, what happened to diplomacy, to sympathy to the family? Did the Dick Jones Skip that class in State Department Charm school? If Jonathan Pollard was a Christian Convicted of Spying For Russia, or a child molester and murderer he would have been out a long time ago.But he was convicted of giving data to an ally. Data that under agreements that were active at the time that ally was supposed to receive anyway.

US Ambassador Jones: 'Be Happy We Didn't Execute Pollard'


(IsraelNN.com) Pollard supporters are enraged at US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones for his remarks Monday morning, implying that Jonathan Pollard committed treason or sold US secrets to Israel.

Speaking at a conference at Bar Ilan University on Israeli-American relations, Jones said, "Pollard took money and sold out his country... The fact that he wasn't executed shows that he was treated mercifully."

"Malicious incitement against both Jonathan and Israel" is how an infuriated Esther Pollard, Jonathan's wife, described it.

"For one thing," she told Arutz-7, "the U.S. has no death penalty for the charge on which Jonathan was accused or convicted. It has a death penalty only for treason - and Jones knows that Jonathan was never accused of treason. It is merely because Israel seems to have abandoned its agent in the field that the American Ambassador feels he can get away with talking like this."

"And where is Israel?!" she asked. "How can it be that the US Ambassador says that an Israeli agent deserved to be executed, and Israel is silent?!"

Arutz-7 contacted the Foreign Ministry for its response, and was told that the matter would be checked.

"The ambassador's remarks fly in the face of former CIA director James Woolsey's opinion that Jonathan should be released already," Mrs. Pollard said. "He is also contradicting former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who said that the charges against him were inflated to begin with."

New Bumper Sticker Campaign
At the same time, a new grassroots campaign is underway to "express the nation's desire" to see Jonathan Pollard home - via bumper stickers. The organizers hope to "stick" 100,000 cars.

Eliana, a 19-year-old from Be'er Sheva doing a year of national service in Raanana, is one of the driving forces behind the new campaign. "It's only been about a week, and we estimate that some 5,000 cars already have the new sticker. We have been shocked at the amount of people calling in or emailing us, asking for the stickers. And it's not just high schoolers who have free time and can give them out at intersections - there have also been many office workers asking us for 50 or more that they can give out to their fellow employees. People really want Pollard home already!"

The campaign comes on the heels of reports that Pollard's health, long impaired, has deteriorated severely in recent weeks. He is simply "living on miracles," his wife summed up.

The bumper sticker campaign organizers explain that given the fact that the Israeli government shows no sign of taking any initiative to seek Pollard's release, "we ask: How can we express in the fastest, strongest, and most effective way, the will of the nation to free Jonathan Pollard?" Their answer was to "very quickly distribute and post 100,000 or more bumper stickers on cars throughout the country. With this many bumper stickers on cars traveling the length and breadth of the country, it will be impossible to ignore the message: We Want Pollard Home Now!"

To participate in the campaign, send email to "freepollard@gmail.com"

REFUTING US AMBASSADOR'S BRAZEN LIES ABOUT JONATHAN POLLARD
Justice4JPNews - May 21, 2007

What is behind the gross slander of an Israeli agent by the US Ambassador?
Why is a foreign diplomat violating all norms of international diplomacy by
slandering Jonathan Pollard? Is this smear "new" US policy towards Israel,
or towards the American Jews? Or is this an attempt to inflate Jonathan
Pollard's value as a bargaining chip against Israel? What is really going
on here?

According to Ha'aretz , AP and other media sources, Richard Jones, the US
Ambassador to Israel, speaking at a conference on US - Israel relations at
Bar Ilan University this morning responded to a question about Jonathan
Pollard with malicious slander and lies. Jones declared that Pollard got off
easy because he deserved to be executed. He falsely accused Jonathan of
being a mercenary and of selling out the US. Jones claimed that the fact
that he spied for an ally made Pollard's crime even more egregious. He
stated that the US is dealing with Pollard according to international norms.
He accused Jonathan of treason, and claimed that all the facts allegedly
came out at Jonathan's 'trial". All of these blatant lies are easily
refuted:

THERE IS NO DEATH PENALTY FOR THE CRIME JONATHAN COMMITTED.

Jones declaration that Pollard got off easy because he deserved to be
executed is wantonly malicious, especially since he know that Jonathan DID
NOT commit treason which is the only crime which carries a death penalty.
In point of fact, Jonathan was charged with the least serious of the
espionage statues: one count of passing classified information to an ally.
The median sentence for this offense is 2 to 4 years.

Jones' claim that Jonathan took money and sold out his country is also
baseless. Jonathan's indictment specifies that he was not charged with
harming the United States, and his sentencing transcript clearly shows that
the court recognized this fact. Consequently the court did not impose a
monetary fine as it would have if he he had spied for money. Most important
of all, Israel formally admitted in 1998 that Jonathan Pollard was a bona
fide Israeli agent.The formal recognition of Jonathan as an Israeli agent
puts the lie to any claims that Jonathan spied out of mercenary motives.

REPEATING THE FALSE CHARGE OF TREASON.

When Jonathan was originally sentenced, then-Secretary of Defense expressed
a false charge of treason against Jonathan in a last-minute memorandum to
the sentencing judge. This was the cue to the judge to ignore the plea
agreement and sentence Pollard to the maximum sentence of life, as if he had
committed the far more serious crime of treason. It should be noted that
contrary to Jones' claims, Jonathan never had a trial. He gave up his right
to a trial in a plea agreement with the US, which Jonathan honored and the
US violated on all counts.

Jones' claims against Pollard repeat Weinberger's false charge of treason by
giving the impression that Jonathan was charged with treason. Treason,
unlike espionage, does carry a death sentence, and does entail selling out
one's country to the enemy. The US constitution defines Treason as aiding
and abetting an enemy in time of war. Jones knows that Jonathan was never
accused, indicted or or convicted of treason!


FLYING IN THE FACE OF THE FACTS

Jones' vicious comments fly in the face of the facts and contradict
statements made recently by other US officials who are far more
knowledgeable about the case, such as James Woolsey, Caspar Weinberger, and
Dennis Ross, who all say that Pollard has more than served his time.

Indeed, Caspar Weinberger, in a 2002 interview before he died, clearly
stated that the case against Jonathan Pollard was in fact "a minor matter"
and that it had been blown up out of all proportion to serve another agenda.

In his book, "The Missing Peace", Dennis Ross is on record that Pollard
deserved to be free long ago, but that he continues to be held by the US as
a bargaining chip against Israel. Ross has repeated his call for Jonathan's
release in public forums and in the media a number of times in recent days.
The same is true of former CIA head, James Woolsey, who has repeatedly
declared that it is time to let Pollard go.

It is a well-known fact that when you blacken an agent, you blacken his
cause. Jonathan Pollard is an Israeli agent, who served the security of the
State of Israel, and who has served 22 years in prison on behalf of the
State. By slandering Jonathan with malicious lies, Jones is slandering his
principals, the State of Israel. If Jonathan's actions as an agent of Israel
are so heinous and can never be forgiven, what does that say about the true
state of relations between Israel and the US?

Jones' claim that the US is acting within standard international norms with
regard to the Pollard case is laughable. NO ONE in the history of the United
States has every gotten a life sentence for spying for an ally. The median
sentence is two to four years. Those who have committed far more serious
crimes than Jonathan by spying for enemies of the US have for the most part
received lighter sentences than Pollard. A recent example is the case of
Ronald Montaperto, a Pentagon analyst who spied for the Chinese for at least
10 years. Montaperto was sentenced to 3 months in prison!

INFLATING POLLARD'S VALUE AS A BARGAINING CHIP?
Even more compelling, no other spy has been held by the United States under
such harsh conditions, serving a grossly disproportionate sentence for more
than 2 decades, with the open admission by top officials such as Dennis
Ross, that his continued incarceration is intended to inflate his value as a
bargaining chip. Has it now become US policy to inflate Jonathan's value
even more, by having the US Ambassador falsely accuse Jonathan of heinous
crimes which he did not commit?

It is up to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel to respond to
Ambassador Richard Jones. It is their duty to call him to account for his
lies and slander against Israel's agent, and as a consequence against the
State. It is incumbent upon the Government of Israel to set the record
straight and then to send Richard Jones home. Now!