Posted on 03/23/2014 9:10:48 AM PDT by SJackson
Obama administration hasn't ruled out releasing Pollard in exchange for Israel’s agreement to free Israeli Arabs convicted of terrorist acts.
With Israeli-Palestinian peace talks teetering on the brink of collapse, US officials are mulling a desperate bid to resuscitate the negotiations by making a significant move that would win the approval of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition, one that may perhaps include the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.
Citing Western diplomatic sources, Israel Radio reported that Obama administration officials have not ruled out Netanyahu’s proposal that Pollard be released in exchange for Israel’s agreement to free Israeli Arabs convicted of terrorist acts, as has been demanded by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The sources would not say whether they believed President Barack Obama would agree to such a move, according to Israel Radio.
Senior Israeli officials told Israel Radio that the peace process is in danger of collapsing. If no agreement is reached between Israel and the PA regarding the fourth installment of the prisoner release, which was originally scheduled to take place next week, the negotiations could break down completely.
The officials said that Abbas has hardened his positions and refused Obama’s request to soften his demands as they relate to the prisoner release, according to Israel Radio.
The officials did indicate, however, that a creative formula could be found regarding Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
The government has been adamant in refusing to release Palestinian citizens of Israel primarily due to the sensitivity of the issue. Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon repeated his intention on Sunday to resign if Israel goes ahead with the scheduled prisoner release.
Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked told Channel 10 that she was opposed to freeing Israeli Arabs.
“We didn’t say we would leave the government,” she said. “What we said was that we would not agree to sit in a government that frees 104 terrorists. We understand that this was what the prime minister committed to, and we will not agree to a number larger than this.”
Bunk.
What kind of peace is there with an Arab nation that still desires the end of Israel and to push all the Jews into the sea?
There would have been peace as early as 1947 if the Arabs would just allow Israel to be.
The Israelis are not the ones that need to be led to peace.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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As one who doesn't mind if Pollard dies in jail, I recognize the problems with his sentence, however that's not the issue here.
Rather the issue is whether his release should be done not in the name of justice, but to gain leverage over Israel to gaining concessions for the local Arabs.
I'd suggest the release of Palestinian terrorist Sirhan-Sirhan would be a much better idea. He's killed a lot fewer people than the terrorists Israel is releasing. Probably has killed fewer Americans. Though I've never seen anyone who did that calculation, it only takes two. Though Americans killed in Israel may not count.
If it happens, I will just be glad that he was not held in prison just so that he could be used as a political pawn at the right time.
Huh?
Oh, it does? My bad...
I am Jewish, and would rather Pollard be executed than be released if his release would “rescue” suicidal “peace talks” — just as I opposed the disgraceful release of 1,000 terrorists to gain back the careless doofus Gilad Schalit a year ago. Frankly, I don’t get why Jews are always so agitated over Pollard. He knew the risks. Do the crime, do the time.
The government has been adamant in refusing to release Palestinian citizens of Israel primarily due to the sensitivity of the issue. Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon repeated his intention on Sunday to resign if Israel goes ahead with the scheduled prisoner release.
bs
I don’t care if they release Pollard. Thats a separate subject.
You can’t make peace with people who want you dead. You can only defeat them or maintain a well-guarded barrier against them.
I would hope that Netanyahu would not compromise his country for Pollard. I suspect he will, though.
Johnathan Pollard should be executed.
Execution would be abnormal. We haven’t executed a spy since the fifties. He should NOT be turned loose in any sort of a deal. I expect the kenyan will offer such a deal, say, Jerusalem for Pollard or 1947 lines for Pollard and Netanyahu might just take it. That would, of course, be something like national suicide for Israel. Israeli politicians have made such an insistent clamor for Pollard for so long that Netanyahu might find he has to take whatever “deal” the kenyan might propose if it springs Pollard. Netanyahu turned out to be squishy in his first term of office. That might turn out to be who he is.
Agree with you there. These are completely two separate matters that should not be linked with each other.
Releasing Sirhan Sirhan in exchange for Pali concessions in "peace talks" with Israel? The Palis have no interest in him at all, so your analogy is done satirically to point out the huge chasm between Israeli and Arab values on human life - which is the principal reason why Israeli-Palestinian talks will continue to be exercises in futility despite the wild fantasies of the Obama administration and other American administrations before it.
Since the US regards Pollard as a hostage Israel should make no concessions to obtain his freedom.
The human freedom of a Jew should never conditioned on blackmail. Israel’s national interests are not for sale.
More's the pity.
Don’t be so sure they have no interest. Sirhan-Sirhan has been honored by the PLO. If you recall Ambassador Cleo Noel and Charge d’Affaires George Curtis Moore, they were kidnapped in order to secure Sirhan’s freedom, along with Israeli prisoners, and executed on Arafat’s order when we didn’t comply. Last murdered Ambassador till Bengazi. But hey’re not dumb enough to ask for his release. But his release is no different than Israel’s release of terrorists.
While I don’t think the US considers Pollard a hostage, you may be correct about this administration.
Correct. Pollard is held as a type of political prisoner. All elements of US foreign policy hate Jews, both GOP and Demoncrat administrations. Truman’s own State Department was apoplectic when he supported the UN resolutions on the modern State of Israel. The real enemies of America have worked at Foggy Bottom since the end of WWII.
Casper Weinberger destroyed legal fairness for Jonathan Pollard, who received a light years harsher sentence than enemies of the U.S., which Pollard never was. Pollard had been offered a plea bargain because it was understood that his violations were not of the sort of others who were serving time.
Continuing to keep Jonathan Pollard in prison is a black mark on the U.S. His release should be done because it is the right thing to do. His release should have nothing to do with Israel’s releasing mass murderers. Pollard did what the State Department had a written agreement to do, but failed to do - share information with U.S.’s closest ally about developments it knows about that threated the strategic partner’s safety. Real historians studying the ebb and flow of freedom vs the enemies of freedom will surely view Pollard favorably and the inveterate Arabist U.S. State Department unfavorably.
p.s. Casper Weinberger did not keep his word about the plea bargain he had offered. This was a double cross of Pollard and an abuse of the legal system. Pollard says he would never have agreed to plead guilty had he known that he’d been lied to about receiving a light sentence in return for pleading guilty to one of the charges.
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