Comments on: An Ambassador Ambushed: Richard Jones and the Pollard Case http://ajcwire.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/ blog of the American Jewish Committee. Articles on Jewish life, current events, and Israel. Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:57:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Sig Lowi http://ajcwire.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-768 Sig Lowi Mon, 04 Jun 2007 17:16:45 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-768 To what extent did the anti-semite Casper Weineberger influence the long sentence on Pollard? To what extent did the anti-semite Casper Weineberger influence the long sentence on Pollard?

]]> By: Chana bat Avraham http://ajcwire.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-769 Chana bat Avraham Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:58:01 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-769 It is time to let him go. It is time to let him go.

]]> By: Jean Sherrell http://ajcwire.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-770 Jean Sherrell Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:15:56 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-770 I have never understood why Pollard was sentenced so harshly in the first place: the information he gave to Israel was primarily about weaponry the US was making available to the Arabs -- a category of information that is supposed to be shared anyway, under information-sharing agreements between the Israeli and American governments. The betrayed agents in Russia were not betrayed by Pollard as MiamiGuy points out, but WHY Pollard is blamed for that is in itself unsettling. If freeing Pollard was good enough for Bill Clinton, it should have been good enough for George Tenet(the guy whose intelligence calls and advice to President Bush before invading Iraq have caused more damage to this country than anything 1,000 Jonathan Pollards could ever have done). Have heard people justify Pollard's incarceration by waxing indignant that one ally would spy on another, but that is ludicrous: intelligence services spy on, trip over and even interfere with one another all the time. Constantly. On a regular basis. Allied countries' interests contradict, overlap, and shapeshift, and their governments act accordingly, sometimes openly and sometimes not, and so do their intelligence agencies. If Richard Jones does not understand this, his grasp of political realities is so pathetic that he has no business holding any diplomatic or any other foreign service position, certainly not anything as important as an ambassador. People sometimes ask those American Jews who generally support Israel whether we care more for Israel's interests than for those of our own country. For myself, there's no conflicting loyalty: I love America and I love Israel, but clearly the latter is far more vulnerable to existential threats -- particularly since there is not one drop of oil in Israel and the great game in the Near and Middle East has always been about oil as far as the great powers are concerned. I have never understood why Pollard was sentenced so harshly in the first place: the information he gave to Israel was primarily about weaponry the US was making available to the Arabs — a category of information that is supposed to be shared anyway, under information-sharing agreements between the Israeli and American governments. The betrayed agents in Russia were not betrayed by Pollard as MiamiGuy points out, but WHY Pollard is blamed for that is in itself unsettling. If freeing Pollard was good enough for Bill Clinton, it should have been good enough for George Tenet(the guy whose intelligence calls and advice to President Bush before invading Iraq have caused more damage to this country than anything 1,000 Jonathan Pollards could ever have done).

Have heard people justify Pollard’s incarceration by waxing indignant that one ally would spy on another, but that is ludicrous: intelligence services spy on, trip over and even interfere with one another all the time. Constantly. On a regular basis. Allied countries’ interests contradict, overlap, and shapeshift, and their governments act accordingly, sometimes openly and sometimes not, and so do their intelligence agencies. If Richard Jones does not understand this, his grasp of political realities is so pathetic that he has no business holding any diplomatic or any other foreign service position, certainly not anything as important as an ambassador.

People sometimes ask those American Jews who generally support Israel whether we care more for Israel’s interests than for those of our own country. For myself, there’s no conflicting loyalty: I love America and I love Israel, but clearly the latter is far more vulnerable to existential threats — particularly since there is not one drop of oil in Israel and the great game in the Near and Middle East has always been about oil as far as the great powers are concerned.

]]> By: MiamiGuy http://ajcwire.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-771 MiamiGuy Thu, 31 May 2007 15:11:52 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-771 On this side of the water many Jews feel he should be released as well. The common feeling is that the reprehensible things attributed to him and terrible results to American agents in Russia were actually caused by Aldrich Ames. On this side of the water many Jews feel he should be released as well. The common feeling is that the reprehensible things attributed to him and terrible results to American agents in Russia were actually caused by Aldrich Ames.

]]> By: David S. Levine http://ajcwire.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-767 David S. Levine Thu, 31 May 2007 13:42:13 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-767 At the risk of being cast as party of the "Israeli nationalistic right" I strongly support executive clemency for Jonathan Pollard. His case went through the legal system at the same time as the Walker case involving a family of spies who gave over the movements of the American fleet to the Soviet embassy's KGB officers. They, after making the government go through a full trial, received sentences of thirty years. Pollard pled guilty, minimized the expense to the government, gave the Israelis information they were entitled to receive under an intelligence sharing agreement with the government and received an unjustified life sentence. Ambassador Jones's views reflects the sentiments of the intelligence community and traditionally hostile State Department. He was not "ambushed" as Lerman puts it but made that statement from his black heart. At the risk of being cast as party of the “Israeli nationalistic right” I strongly support executive clemency for Jonathan Pollard. His case went through the legal system at the same time as the Walker case involving a family of spies who gave over the movements of the American fleet to the Soviet embassy’s KGB officers. They, after making the government go through a full trial, received sentences of thirty years. Pollard pled guilty, minimized the expense to the government, gave the Israelis information they were entitled to receive under an intelligence sharing agreement with the government and received an unjustified life sentence. Ambassador Jones’s views reflects the sentiments of the intelligence community and traditionally hostile State Department. He was not “ambushed” as Lerman puts it but made that statement from his black heart.

]]> By: Richard Hess http://ajcwire.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-766 Richard Hess Thu, 31 May 2007 00:36:08 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/05/30/an-ambassador-ambushed-richard-jones-and-the-pollard-ase/#comment-766 In the Pollard case, why would Israel disrespect their ally the USA by running spy Pollard? And then there was that spy ship 'Liberty". Not all Americans lived after Israel delivered their idea of justice. Cheers. In the Pollard case, why would Israel disrespect their ally the
USA by running spy Pollard?
And then there was that spy ship ‘Liberty”. Not all Americans lived after Israel delivered their idea of justice.

Cheers.

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