Jonathan Pollard, sentenced to life in prison in the United States for passing valuable security-related information to Israel, is spending his 9,000th day in prison Monday. His wife, Esther Pollard, criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for not working to get her husband released.
"Netanyahu is burying Jonathan alive,” she told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news service.
By abandoning Pollard, Israel has undermined its ability to free other prisoners, she said. “The Israeli government's approach, which allows it to sentence one prisoner to death, undermine its values and stand in the way of finding solutions for other captives,” she explained. "Since Yonatan was arrested in 1985 Israel has not managed to return a single live soldier from captivity - only bodies."
Esther Pollard pointed to the recent release of 10 suspected Russian spies in the U.S. as proof that Israel has the ability to obtain Pollard's release. “The Americans have proved that they can easily release [prisoners] – when they want to maintain good ties with an ally,” she concluded.
Activists are currently holding a three-day rally on the Light Rail Bridge in Jerusalem to mark the latest milestone date in Pollard's prison stay. They are asking passersby to write letters of support to Pollard, and hope to send at least 9,000 such letters, along with photographs of Israelis holding signs indicating their support.