Pollard lobbyists still hoping for presidential clemency
Despite quick and sharp refusal from White House, campaigners say Obama himself has the final word
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The committee for the release of Jonathan Pollard is still hoping for a presidential pardon despite Monday night’s declaration from the National Security Council spokesman that the jailed Israeli spy will remain behind bars.
“President Peres personally and formally submitted his request directly to President Obama and we are all waiting for his personal and formal response to President Peres,” the committee said on Tuesday. “We are waiting for Obama’s response. It is important to remember that Obama is the only one with the power to give clemency and a declaration by another source is not relevant.”
Yahoo! News reported within hours of Peres submitting his request a response from the White House in which National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said that Pollard will not be released.
“Our position hasn’t changed,” Vietor said, although he admitted that he didn’t know if Obama had yet received Peres’s personal appeal to release the former navy analyst who was arrested in 1985 for spying for Israel and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
Chairman of the Committee to Release Pollard MK Uri Arieli (National Union) said that quick response from the White House demonstrates an unfeeling attitude that borders on cruelty. Arieli added that he is still hoping that Obama himself will act differently.
“This is not a personal response from Obama to the letter that he received,” Arieli said, and asserted that, if Obama also announces his refusal to release Pollard, then Peres should consider refusing to receive the Medal of Freedom from Obama and to cancel his forthcoming meeting with him.
The Times of Israel Community.