Jonathan Pollard Released From Prison On Parole After 30 Years Of Diplomatic Tension, But Did He Deserve His Conviction In The First Place?


Jonathan Pollard is set to be released from prison on parole Friday, nearly 30 years after he was first arrested in 1985.

Years before Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning became the faces of the modern espionage debate, Jonathan was tried for releasing U.S. secrets to Israeli officials. Pollard was eventually convicted for his crimes by Judge Aubrey Robinson in May 1987.

Since then, Jonathan’s imprisonment has fiercely divided both the American Jewish community and the U.S. government. From Hollywood elite to members of Congress, Pollard has enjoyed a vocal group of supporters who insist that his sentence was completely unjust and have, to this day, protested for his liberation. On the other hand, CIA officials and even pro-Israel groups like the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs maintain that Jonathan got just what was coming to him. It’s a case where even seemingly inseparable entities have come to quite disparate conclusions.

parole for Jonathan Pollard instead of true freedom
Jonathan Pollard’s release to parole will be a relief for whoever takes office in 2016. The topic has been a source of contention for every president, conservative and liberal alike, since his conviction. [Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images]

Many of Pollard’s supporters in Israel feel that an unfair media firestorm surrounding his trial is partially responsible for the long sentence he has endured. The case has often been brought to the table by U.S. presidents in negotiations for peace accords with neighboring Palestine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has met privately with Jonathan in prison, says that the amount of time Pollard has spent behind bars is a “great injustice,” according to a detailed Times of Israel report that was republished a few months ago.

“Contrary to perfidious rumors about his manner. [Jonathan] was absolutely clear and in control — both intellectually and emotionally. Remember, he did not work for anyone but Israel, yet continues in jail after 17 years. However, others did work for other countries, and they were set free long ago. A great injustice has been perpetrated by keeping Pollard endlessly in jail.”

Despite a wealth of Israeli support, Jonathan has also been dogged by fierce critics, particularly as more information relating to his conviction has become declassified. As Pollard was passing top-secret information to Israel, the public was barred from the specifics of his actual disclosures. In a recent editorial from Slate, Fred Kaplan called Jonathan “one of the worst traitors of the 20th century” and argued that his arrangement with Israel had also resulted in enemies of U.S. getting ahold of sensitive information — some of which the public is now aware of due to the work of recent whistleblowers.

“We now know that [one particularly damning] item in question was a National Security Agency manual called the RASIN, short for “Radio Signal Notations.” The RASIN was a guide to the physical parameters of every radio signal that the NSA was intercepting—a guide on how the NSA was tracking military communications, not just Israel’s but any and every country’s, including the Soviet Union’s. The RASIN was 10 volumes, and Pollard gave his Israeli handlers every single page of it… [that information] would give the reader a heads up on where and what actions the U.S. military might take next.”

Jonathan Pollard released on parole from jail
While Robert Pollard will be released on parole after 30 years, his wife Anne also spent 5 years incarcerated. [Image via Liaison/Hulton Archive]

Though Jonathan was given a life sentence and his wife, Anne, five years, Pollard is now being allowed to walk, somewhat, free due to sentencing laws. For some of his advocates, that’s not enough. Critics reviewing Jonathan’s case, like Judge George Leighton, stated that due process was not upheld during the trial, reported the Times of Israel.

“The evidence shows that the government engaged in serious misconduct that went unchecked by an ineffective defense counsel, Richard Hibey, and that these constitutional violations severely prejudiced Mr. Pollard, and resulted in his sentence of life in prison.”

With significantly more information available to the public now than at the time of the trial, do you think Jonathan Pollard’s release from prison on parole is deserved?

[Image via Uriel Sinai/Getty Images]

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