Jonathan Pollard Turns 60 Behind Bars

Jonathan Pollard turned 60 this week, according to both the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars.

Pollard, a citizen of the United States, received a life sentence in 1987 for passing classified information to Israel while working as a civilian intelligence analyst. He was granted Israeli citizenship in 1995.

In June, an eminent group of North American legal scholars called on President Barack Obama to commute the sentence of Pollard to time served – which would mean his immediate release.

“Such commutation is more than warranted if the ends of justice are to be served, the rule of law respected and simple humanity secured,” the scholars wrote to the president.

The signatories to the letter included Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and former Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler.

Also in June, President Shimon Peres said that he had discussed Pollard’s case with President Barack Obama in a meeting and Obama said that the US Attorney General would consider an “offer” Peres said he had mentioned to Obama.

“I made a specific offer, but I won’t go into details,” Peres told reporters, adding that he had discussed the offer with Pollard family members before presenting it to Obama. “If I give too many details it will just ruin things,” Peres said, adding that Obama had agreed to weigh the offer. “I can’t say that he responded positively on the spot. I don’t want to add to what he said, which was that the US Attorney General would become involved,” Peres said.

All are asked to daven for Yehonosan ben Malka.

{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}