The new forest will be located some four kilometers from Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, south of Ashkelon, and it will be dedicated the day after Tu B'Shvat, traditionally a day of planting in the Land of Israel. Some 5,000 trees will be planted as a sign of appreciation for Pollard and his actions on behalf of the State and People of Israel.
Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz and former Prisoners of Zion (from Soviet Russia) will participate in the ceremony, as will MKs Gilad Erdan and Orit Noked, who head the Knesset Lobby for Pollard. The three have issued a letter encouraging youth to participate in the ceremony, saying that it will be an "exceptionally great educational opportunity [to] express our principled support for Jonathan Pollard and will strengthen the Zionist spirit amongst our children and youth." Rabbi Shlomo Aviner has made a similar call.
Activists on behalf of Pollard are excited about the event. "This is an activity unlike any other that was ever done for Soviet Jewry," one of them told Arutz-7's Ruti Avraham. "It is a true salute to a captive soldier."
In the meanwhile, Atty. Larry Dub, who represents Jonathan Pollard (at no charge) in Israel, has told Arutz-7 that Aviem Sella, Pollard's "handler," has an international arrest warrant hanging over his head and is thus prevented from leaving Israel. Sella was indicted in the U.S. together with Pollard, but managed to leave the country before he could be arrested.
Dub says that despite the seemingly inexplicable animosity that official U.S. holds for Pollard, there was a period between Pollard's arrest in November 1985 and his indictment in June 1986 when he could have been freed. "Then-U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz was willing to end the whole story," Dub said, "but he made it contingent upon an affidavit to be submitted by Aviem Sella." The problem, as it developed, was that Sella said that he was barely involved in the Pollard episode - in sharp contrast to everything that the Americans already knew about the case. Pollard himself has since explained that he tried to protect Sella, and that for this - and because of the fact that Sella was later promoted in the Israel Air Force - the Americans took out their anger by giving him an unduly
harsh sentence: life imprisonment with no parole, of which he is now in his 19th year.
Pollard has often said that the Israeli government "submitted fraudulent testimony" about Sella "designed to obscure the fact this was an official [Israeli] operation."
Atty. Dub said that many Israelis "simply do not understand why the Americans are so stubborn about not releasing Pollard, and have trouble believing that the State of Israel is abandoning its loyal servant. But one can see the difference between those who Israel is really 'doing its best,' such as the Mossad agents [who bungled the assassination of Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan] and Pollard." It will be recalled that Yassin was released from life imprisonment in October 1997 as part of the efforts to attain the release of the two agents. "Then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made special efforts on their behalf," Dub said, "saying that he could not abandon his own army friends. But Pollard, on the other hand, is nothing more than a nice American Jewish boy with no contacts or high-ranking relatives. He doesn't have a father who's a senior officer, MK, or judge to work on his behalf."
Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz and former Prisoners of Zion (from Soviet Russia) will participate in the ceremony, as will MKs Gilad Erdan and Orit Noked, who head the Knesset Lobby for Pollard. The three have issued a letter encouraging youth to participate in the ceremony, saying that it will be an "exceptionally great educational opportunity [to] express our principled support for Jonathan Pollard and will strengthen the Zionist spirit amongst our children and youth." Rabbi Shlomo Aviner has made a similar call.
Activists on behalf of Pollard are excited about the event. "This is an activity unlike any other that was ever done for Soviet Jewry," one of them told Arutz-7's Ruti Avraham. "It is a true salute to a captive soldier."
In the meanwhile, Atty. Larry Dub, who represents Jonathan Pollard (at no charge) in Israel, has told Arutz-7 that Aviem Sella, Pollard's "handler," has an international arrest warrant hanging over his head and is thus prevented from leaving Israel. Sella was indicted in the U.S. together with Pollard, but managed to leave the country before he could be arrested.
Dub says that despite the seemingly inexplicable animosity that official U.S. holds for Pollard, there was a period between Pollard's arrest in November 1985 and his indictment in June 1986 when he could have been freed. "Then-U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz was willing to end the whole story," Dub said, "but he made it contingent upon an affidavit to be submitted by Aviem Sella." The problem, as it developed, was that Sella said that he was barely involved in the Pollard episode - in sharp contrast to everything that the Americans already knew about the case. Pollard himself has since explained that he tried to protect Sella, and that for this - and because of the fact that Sella was later promoted in the Israel Air Force - the Americans took out their anger by giving him an unduly
harsh sentence: life imprisonment with no parole, of which he is now in his 19th year.
Pollard has often said that the Israeli government "submitted fraudulent testimony" about Sella "designed to obscure the fact this was an official [Israeli] operation."
Atty. Dub said that many Israelis "simply do not understand why the Americans are so stubborn about not releasing Pollard, and have trouble believing that the State of Israel is abandoning its loyal servant. But one can see the difference between those who Israel is really 'doing its best,' such as the Mossad agents [who bungled the assassination of Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan] and Pollard." It will be recalled that Yassin was released from life imprisonment in October 1997 as part of the efforts to attain the release of the two agents. "Then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made special efforts on their behalf," Dub said, "saying that he could not abandon his own army friends. But Pollard, on the other hand, is nothing more than a nice American Jewish boy with no contacts or high-ranking relatives. He doesn't have a father who's a senior officer, MK, or judge to work on his behalf."