The Haaretz "scoop" on the issue this morning was headlined, "U.S. Judicial Department: Pollard Will Be Freed in 2015." But in fact, even the website on which the story is based states only that this is the "projected" release date.
Pollard's wife Esther says it's not even that. "At best, this is the date on which he can begin the process of asking for a shortening of his sentence," she told Arutz-7 this morning. "But really, even that is totally insignificant - because we have not been permitted to see his sentencing file. This means that all the requests for Presidential clemency that Jonathan has made - three of them - have been turned down, and we are not even allowed to know why! They merely say, 'Sorry, it's classified information.'"
"By the same token," Mrs. Pollard said, "this prevents Jonathan from asking for parole or for a shortening of his sentence. Normally, a federal prisoner is permitted to ask for parole every ten years - but in Jonathan's case, we have been warned that if he does so, he will not only be turned down without explanation, but he will not be permitted to ask for parole for another 15 years afterwards! This will of course enable any President to similarly say that he can't pardon him... and all this without our lawyers even being permitted to see the file against him!"
Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. Navy analyst for the Pentagon, was arrested exactly 20 years ago this month for having passed classified information to Israel. He was convicted not of treason, nor of compromising US agents or codes, but of passing classified information to an ally, without intent to harm the United States. The median sentence for this offense is 2-4 years; only Pollard has ever received a life sentence - and this, despite the plea bargain agreement he reached with the prosecution. He was not a mercenary, as the FBI concluded after nine months of polygraph tests, and his ideological motivation was recognized by the sentencing judge, who declined to fine him.
The information on the projected release date appears on the above website in a one-line description of his status. The entry also includes the prisoner's name, prison number, race, sex and prison location (Butner, North Carolina).
Haaretz reporter Amir Oren surmises in his report that "the willingness of the American Judicial Department to recognize a possible date for Pollard's release, even if it is ten years away, could help the Israeli efforts to bring about a shortening of his sentence by additional years."
Esthern Pollard strongly disagrees. "If anything," she said today, "it is likely to cause Israeli judges to feel that Pollard is already on his way out, and that there is therefore no reason to feel pressured. Keep in mind that Jonathan has a case pending in the [Israeli] Supreme Court, in which he is demanding to be recognized as a Prisoner of Zion. The timing of this breaking of this news is suspicious in that it looks like an effort to make it seem that there's no great rush to work for Pollard's release."
The Committee to Free Jonathan Pollard also responded negatively to the report of Pollard's projected release date: "There is nothing new in that report. Two and three years ago, as well, the website had the same information. It has always been known that he could then submit a request for a shortening of his sentence - but there is not even a guarantee that they will agree to hear the request."
Regarding Israel's official stance on Pollard vis-a-vis the Americans, Adi Ginzburg of the Committee to Free Jonathan Pollard said today,
"Reports of Prime Minister Sharon raising the matter to President Bush are designed only for Israeli public opinion. He acts only according to what will help him politically and what will keep his government in power for more time. How is it possible that there is not even one government minister who demands that while Sharon releases terrorists, he should also secure Pollard's release? It is this atmosphere that allows him to just ignore Pollard."