By Shlomo Pyotrkovsky, Ari Yashar, INN
Protest for Jonathan Pollard’s releaseA reported American offer revealed to Arutz Sheva on Tuesday, by which Jonathan Pollard would be released in exchange for over 400 Israeli-held Arab terrorists, including arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, was sharply denounced by Judea and Samaria’s Yesha Council.
Aside from releasing the terrorists, Israel would be obligated to a partial building freeze in Judea and Samaria, as well as parts of Jerusalem, in order to continue peace talks and secure the release of Pollard, now in his 29th year of incarceration in an American prison on charges of spying for Israel.
In response to the plans, Yesha Council released a statement on Tuesday afternoon, declaring “the submission to Arab blackmail and American bribery through the use of Pollard is a disgrace. Freezing building and freeing murderers is not a new patent.”
“The government of Israel has already frozen (building) and released murderers several times, but the Palestinian leadership isn’t interested in peace, but rather steps up its demands and requests more and more murderers,” noted the statement.
Yesha Council strongly denounced the “extortion,” calling on government ministers to oppose the “shameful deal,” and in doing so “not to submit to American pressure and bribery.”
The statement clarified the Council’s ardent desire for Pollard’s release, but noted “making the joy of the day of his release dependent on the mourning of the bereaved families whose loved ones’ murderers are released is an unforgivable act.”
“The Palestinians are extorting, the Americans are bribing, and the one paying the price is the government of Israel in the name of us, the citizens,” concluded the council.
“Put an end to this farce”
Dani Dayan, Chief Foreign Envoy of the Yesha Council, issued a statement similarly slamming the proposed deal.
“The amount of time John Kerry has invested in attempting to secure the release of convicted terrorists and his manipulative use of Jonathan Pollard are shameful,” noted Dayan. “What is the purpose of resuscitating this redundant process that has failed to achieve even a vague framework agreement in nine months?”
Dayan called for Israel to “put an end to this never ending farce that stems from the Palestinians ever-growing demands and intransigence. Once again, the Palestinian leadership has no intent of making peace and merely wants to gain public support by securing the release of murderers.”
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have already revealed that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is only staying in talks to secure the release of all 104 terrorists promised as a “gesture” to promote the peace talks. The talks have hit a loggerhead due to Abbas’s adamant refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish state.
Major Israeli rabbis have raised their voices in condemnation of the new American Pollard deal, arguing that releasing terrorists is against the laws of the Torah.
Retired Colonel Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Meir Har-el Hesder Yeshiva (Torah academy) in Modi’in, remarked “once the US decided to trade (Pollard) for concessions, it really let the cat out of the bag. Pollard is being held hostage for Israel to make serious concessions regarding its security and sovereignty and Pollard’s release markets them to the Israeli public.”
@ yamit82:
Is there not something EXTREMELY wrong with this picture?????
“Joint” as in we GIVE and they TAKE???
For crying out loud, yamit, your ‘solution’ is the only one that makes sense..,!!!
Most Arabs Oppose Cooperation with Israel INN
Most Palestinian Arabs favor a ban on joint activities with Israelis, according to a poll published on Tuesday.
70% of respondents said they were against joint cultural and sporting activities with Israel, and 55% said they did not agree to cooperate with Israel in the fields of science, environment and health.
ADL Slams Obama For Making Pollard A ‘Bargaining Chip’
Obama has made no decision yet about Pollard; ADL argues his release should not be ‘intertwined’ in peace talks.
Arafat-style, Abbas is playing with fire
In applying to join 15 international organizations, the PA president is trying to pressure Israel and the US. The gambit may backfire
@ NormanF:
@ Yidvocate:
Pollard is eligible for parole in Nov 2015.
His value is decreasing every day as a political card for America and BB.
yamit82 Said:
Yamit – time to daven!
Kerry Cancels Abbas Meeting as PA Requests To Join UN Agencies
Abbas breaches peace talk conditions by making unilateral bid for international recognition; Kerry cancels upcoming visit to Ramallah.
Pollard waives parole hearing to protest deal
US Parole Commissioner: Spy Pollard Waives Hearing
WASHINGTON April 1, 2014 (AP)
By PETE YOST Associated Press
Associated Press
A member of the U.S. Parole Commission says convicted spy Jonathan Pollard has waived a planned parole hearing.
Commissioner Patricia Smoot says the hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday.
A parole commission administrator, Stephen Husk, says the hearing was to have been held at the federal prison in Butner, N.C., and that Pollard, who is imprisoned there, would have attended. Husk declined further comment.
Waiving the parole hearing comes amid diplomatic discussions between the U.S. and Israel about Pollard’s possible release to further Mideast peace talks. The possibility of parole was the latest legal avenue Pollard had been taking in an effort to win his freedom.
The 59-year-old Pollard repeatedly sought executive clemency from Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but was denied. He has been imprisoned since 1985.
Tell me this is just some sick April Fool’s joke!
PLEASE TELL ME!!!
NormanF Said:
How true…
How sad…
How pathetic…
yamit82 Said:
Yamit if this turns out to be true, please do a bench gomel and give Hashem thanks for stiffening the heart of the enemy! No thanks to the shepherds who have led Israel to the brink of disaster.
@ yamit82:
The reason Israel’s moral center has disintegrated because Israel become used to its leaders abusing it. The country is emotionally scarred and morally defenseless. This is what 20 years of the so-called “peace process” has led to. Israel has abandoned every single one of its proclaimed “red lines” while in all that time, the Palestinian Arabs have remained resolute in their goal of seeking Israel’s destruction. They don’t have to worry overmuch for the Jews are falling all over themselves to deliver their country to them on a silver platter. They cannot believe it and must assume its a trick. Now the only question left is: “what’s next, indeed?” I am afraid.
Abbas moves to join UN bodies in sign talks falling apart
Despite reports of looming deal, Palestinian president reportedly cancels meeting with Kerry, announces Palestinians going to international organizations in hint talks are collapsing.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians are “immediately” resuming their bid to win further UN recognition and has signed applications for 15 UN agencies and conventions, in a move which could indicate peace talks have come to an end.
Abbas’ surprise move late Tuesday could derail US-brokered peace talks with Israel.
Buzz of the Orient Said:
Where did they make a concession? That is a bold, flat-out lie from Netanyahu. The Palestinian Arabs don’t trust him. Why should Israelis take him at his word? He has never told the truth. Not once before and since this farce began. Its time to put this wretched carny circus act out of its misery.
Obama’s Bribery and Emotional Blackmail to Sell Pollard and Buy Time
Israel’s collective stomach is wrenching over the prospect of massive concessions for Pollard and more “peace talks.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to return to Israel Wednesday and meet Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah to conclude another black chapter of Israel’s winding itself around President Barack Obama’s little finger.
Everything is apparently is place for the proposed deal of “Pollard in exchange for terrorists and another year of talks,” in reality a stretched version of Palestinian Authority ultimatums.
Palestinian Authority officials are to meet tonight in Ramallah in preparation for Kerry’s visit. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called for a special Cabinet session Wednesday to approve the deal, if Ramallah does not throw a monkey wrench into the ring.
The American and Israeli governments have been spoon-feeding the Israeli public the past 24 hours with the idea of Obama’s granting Jonathan Pollard freedom from his life sentence in jail, even though he is eligible for pardon in November 2015.
That might be the reason Obama is playing the “Pollard card” now because next year, time would have expired to the point that offering Pollard would be useless for solving the next crisis, which can be expected if Kerry then comes up with a creative device to divide Jerusalem while calling it something else.
Morally, the idea of freeing Pollard for terrorists, and for extending the talks that have brought Israel nothing except a pat on the head from the Obama administration, is reprehensible. For good measure, there will be an “unofficial” building freeze in Judea and Samaria, which means no one really knows what it means.
It also defies logic from the side of the American government, which now has to explain to its citizens that the position that Pollard “committed a serious crime and must pay for it” suddenly subservient to need to continue the mediation of Obama’s point men who keep Israel and the Palestinian Authority from abandoning Kerry and Obama.
Yair Shamir, a Cabinet minister from the Yisrael Beitenu party, told Israeli radio Monday that the proposed deal is “bribery and emotional blackmail.” He said will oppose the deal if it comes to a vote.
Likud Minister Yuval Steinitz, loyal to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said that the deal defies logic but that Israel has a moral commitment to do whatever has to be done to free Pollard.
Labor Knesset Member Nachman Shai expressed the most accurate estimate of reality. “The Palestinians feel that Israel is in a severe crisis and they can demand more and more,” he said.
Israeli governments, especially those of Rabin-Peres, Sharon, Olmert and now Netanyahu – have consistently turned themselves on their heads to perform stunts that are incomprehensible.
Each one is more unbelievable than the prior act, which is a cause for worry, because what’s next?
The only crime involved here is on the part of Jewish leaders of the Jewish state who even agree to talk to the enemies of the Jewish nation about limiting Jewish settlement on the Jewish lands of Shomron and Yehuda.
If it were up to me, there would be no democracy whatsoever in the Jewish state, but only Jewish governance in which treason against the Jewish nation and Eretz-Yisrael would be punishable by death.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
So more murderers are to be released in order to keep the Palestinians at the table, while the Palestinians give no concessions. Oh, sorry, their concession is to not go to the ICJ.
What the deal truly reveals is that there is some equivalence between Pollard and the Arab murders. If they were truly criminals there would be no talk of their early release. No they are just political prisoners just like Pollard who can be traded like hockey cards.
Again we undermine our own legitimacy and wonder why the world only has disdain for us!
Jewish blood is cheap and killing Jews is not a crime. This we teach the goyim and then marvel how they can see us in such a way.