The Knesset held a special session this morning on the 16th anniversary of Jonathan Pollard’s incarceration, at the request of MK Michael Kleiner (Herut). Speakers from across the political spectrum addressed the Knesset and dozens of special guests, each demanding that the U.S. release Pollard. In addition, former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu will deliver a Torah lecture this evening in the Yeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem. The lecture is the third in a year-long series of monthly Torah lectures on behalf of Jonathan Pollard, sponsored by the \'Committee to Bring Jonathan Home\' of the Israeli Action Alliance.



Excerpts from the Knesset speeches:

MK Kleiner (Herut): \"Without the information that Pollard brought us, information that did not endanger the United States, Israel would not have been even minimally ready for an unconventional-weapon attack against us. But the Israeli government\'s memory is short. It pushes the Pollard issue to the side [ungratefully]... The government does much to get dead bodies, but it is willing to bury Pollard alive… Peres, who has toured all over the world... shook hands with Powell, but didn\'t invest even one second in Pollard… Sharon, too, a brave officer who crossed the Suez Canal and brought us victory in the Yom Kippur War...didn\'t have the courage to stand in front of the US President and demand Pollard\'s immediate release.

MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), who has visited Pollard in prison several times: \"From visit to visit, I find him in worse condition, more depressed, with lower morale, feeling more and more abandoned by the Israeli government. The Knesset must turn to the American government and demand his immediate release, at least on a humanitarian basis - for he is simply rotting away in jail.\"

MK David Levy (Gesher): \"The government must raise this issue on every occasion. This is its elementary ethical responsibility.\"