Fwd: Matot Arim concerns addressed to Rabbi Pesach Lerner and Rabbi Zwiebel Re: Frank initiative in Congress on Pollards Behalf

bs"d

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: dym <sddym@bezeqint.net>
Date: Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 9:04 AM
Subject: urgent -- urgent -- rabbi pessach lerner and rabbi zwiebel
To: plerner@youngisrael.org, Dzwiebel@agudathisrael.org
Cc: "Mr. Y. Edelstein MK" <yedelstein@knesset.gov.il>, Mattot Arim <mattot.arim@gmail.com>

Dear Rabbi Lerner and Rabbi Zwiebel, (in alphabetical order),

 

urgent -- urgent -- re "Israel... is ...faced with difficult decisions, clemency [for mr. pollard] ...could be especially useful ...when those decisions are being made"
 
distinguished rabbis, 

 

may i ask whether you as jewish leaders would support or oppose a deal whereby our brave jewish communities in judea and samaria would be frozen whereas mr. pollard would be released.

 

i ask for 2 reasons:

 

reason a. there is great existential danger stemming from the possibilities that the jewish communities in j & s would be frozen, this in order to allow discussion of "borders" (i.e. -- dangerous israeli withdrawals) -- and of course the purpose of "discussing borders"  (agreeing to withdrawals i.e.)  during the 60 days, is to make un-freezing even harder, in fact impossible, even AFTER the 60 days. so, freezing for 60 days is believed here in israel to be tantamount to freezing forever.

 

as you know, there is an israeli expression - איפה שאין מתנחל - יש מחבל -- wherever there is no jewish settlement, there is a terrorist. of course we are all aware that 19 out of 20 of israel's biggest cities are within easy home-made rocket range of judea and samaria. this is why we need to have constant jewish building in those areas. this was also mr. netanyahu's clear commitment to the voting public here in our democracy. it would of course  be entirely superfluous to the point of impertinence, for us to even mention the torah-signifance of judea and samaria, to distinguished rabbinical scholars such as yourselves.

 

reason b. it is very surprising and coincidental, although of course most welcome,  that the conference of presidents, suddenly after over 20 years, is remembering to take this move on behalf of mr. pollard, to whom i last wrote only yesterday evening, and this coincidentally at the very time when mr. obama is exerting very very  heavy daily pressure on israel to betray the j & s communities after every single senior minister here in israel, including of course the prime minister, gave clear assurances to the public, over and over again, that this would not occur in view of the dangers described above. 

 

i venture to guess, that at least rabbi lerner שליטא and probably also rabbi zwiebel שליטא are opposed to -- chas veshalom - pushing israel into a freeze, and that at least rabbi lerner and probably also rabbi zwiebel, once aware of the terrible possibilities that seem to be the backdrop of this sudden most welcome initiative, are as concerned as we are. if i am correct -- would it be possible for the respective organizations to make it very clear to the public, to mr. hoenlein, and in fact to  everyone involved, that your understanding is that this is a request for strictly a  no-strings-attached clemency and that in particular your organizations hope and pray that israel firmly rejects any suggestions to freeze the jewish communities.

 

dear leaders, myself and many others do look fw to hearing from you at your earliest possible covenience.

 

bivracha neemana ובהוקרת אמת גדולה

 

susie dym (spokesperson for mattot arim - mother of 6 in one of the cities directly threatened by j & s)

 

 

From: TED BELMAN <tedbel1@israpundit.com>
To:
Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 10:47:00 -0400
Subject: CLEMENCY FOR JONATHAN POLLARD

 

Jonathan Pollard -- New Initiative by NCYI and Agudas Yisrael

Congressmen Request Clemency for Jonathan Pollard
  
Memo from Rabbi Pesach Lerner
October 4, 2010, 26 Tishrei 5771

Please take note of the initiative by Congressmen Frank, Weiner, Pascrell and Towns as well as a letter of support  from the Conference of Presidents

Please peruse the releases and information that is contained in my email. There is a letter currently circulating in Congress in support of Jonathan Pollard.

It is important that we encourage as many Congresspersons as possible to sign onto the letter. Please call your Congressperson and encourage your congregants and associates to call their Congresspersons.

If they have any questions, ask them to contact Congressman Barney Franks's office.

Your phone calls can make an important difference.

Thank You

Kol Toov

PL

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Sent: Mon, October 4, 2010 8:09:48 PM
Subject: Jonathan Pollard -- New Initiative

 

As you will see below, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, together with
Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York, Congressman Ed Towns of New York and
Congressman Bill Pascrell of New Jersey, are taking the lead in sending a letter
to President Obama asking the President to grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard. 
Congressman Frank has circulated among other members of Congress a "Dear
Colleague" letter asking them to add their signatures to the letter to President
Obama.  The goal is to present the letter to the President within the next two
weeks.
 
            Agudas Yisroel of America, under the direction of the Moetzes
Gedolei HaTorah, has long been involved in efforts to secure Pollard's release. 
A letter signed by many Congressmembers could have a powerful impact in helping
make this happen, be'H.  We are therefore asking our lay leaders and regional
directors from across the country to reach out to their local Congressmembers to
ask them to sign on to the Frank letter.  Time is of the essence, so please do
what you can as soon as you can.
 
            Tizku l'mitzvos!
 
David Zwiebel, Esq.
Executive Vice President
Agudath Israel of America
42 Broadway
New York, NY 10004
Tel: 212-797-7385; 212-797-9000, ext. 210
Fax: 646-254-1600
dzwiebel@agudathisrael.org
 
*          *          *          *          *          *          *         
*          *          *          *         

 
Office of Congressman Barney Frank
 
Press Release  
Thursday, September 23, 2010   
        
    
 
FRANK AND COLLEAGUES ANNOUNCE THEY ARE SOLICITING SIGNATURES FOR A LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA REQUESTING CLEMENCY FOR JONATHAN POLLARD
 
 
WASHINGTON -- Congressman Barney Frank, Congressman Bill Pascrell, Congressman
Edolphus Towns and Congressman Anthony Weiner announced today that they are
circulating a letter in the House of Representatives, seeking other Members to
join them in asking President Obama to extend clemency to Jonathan Pollard, the
former civilian defense officer who is serving a life sentence for passing
classified information to Israel. 
 
The letter notes that they are not questioning Mr. Pollard's guilt, the process
by which he was convicted and sentenced, nor the necessity of punishing those
who engage in espionage on behalf of allied countries.  Rather, the appeal for
clemency is based on the vast disparity between Mr. Pollard's sentence and the
sentences given to many others who have been convicted of similar activities,
even with countries that unlike Israel are or have been adversaries of the
United States.
 
The letter also notes the positive impact that a grant of clemency would have in
Israel, as a strong indication of the goodwill of our nation towards Israel and
the Israeli people.  This would be particularly helpful at a time when the
Israeli nation faces difficult decisions in its long-standing effort to secure
peace with its neighbors.
 
The letter will be circulated in Congress for a period of time, and then sent to
President Obama, most likely by the middle of October.   

 
Urge President Obama To Extend Clemency To Jonathan Pollard
From: The Honorable Barney Frank
Sent By: markus.rose@mail.house.gov
Date: 9/28/2010
Twenty-five years is enough. 
 
Dear Colleague,
 
We invite you to join us in sending the following letter to President Obama, asking him to extend clemency to Jonathan Pollard, the former civilian defense officer who has been incarcerated since 1985 and is serving a life sentence for passing classified information to Israel. 
 
The letter stresses that we are not questioning Mr. Pollard's guilt, or the process by which he was convicted and sentenced, or the necessity of punishing those who engage in espionage on behalf of allied countries.  Rather, the appeal for clemency is based on the vast disparity between Mr. Pollard's sentence and the sentences given to many others who have been convicted of similar activities, even with countries that unlike Israel are or have been adversaries of the United States.
 
We also note the positive impact that a grant of clemency would have in Israel, as a strong indication of the goodwill of our nation towards Israel and the Israeli people.  This would be particularly helpful at a time when the Israeli nation faces difficult decisions in its long-standing effort to secure peace with its neighbors.
 
If you wish to sign, or have any further questions, please contact Markus Rose with Congressman Frank at markus.rose@mail.house.gov
 
 
________________________________        _______________________________
BARNEY FRANK                                         BILL PASCRELL, JR.
United StatesHouse of Representatives      United States House of
Representatives
 
 
________________________________        _______________________________
EDOLPHUS TOWNS                                    ANTHONY WEINER
United StatesHouse of Representatives      United States House of
Representatives
 
 
October xx, 2010
 
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
 
Dear Mr. President,
 
We write to urge you to use your constitutional power to extend clemency to
Jonathan Pollard, thereby releasing him from prison after the time he has
already served. As you know, such an exercise of the clemency power does not in
any way imply doubt about his guilt, nor cast any aspersions on the process by
which he was convicted. Those who have such views are of course entitled to
continue to have them, but the clemency grant has nothing to do with that.
 
We believe that there has been a great disparity from the standpoint of justice
between the amount of time Mr. Pollard has served and the time that has been
served – or not served at all – by many others who were found guilty of similar
activity on behalf of nations adversarial to us, unlike Israel.
 
Recently, we allowed a large number of Russians, who had been spying on us for
the country that had long been our major adversary, to leave with no punishment
whatsoever. This makes it very hard for many to understand why Mr. Pollard
should continue to serve beyond the nearly twenty-five years he has already been
in prison. We agree that it is important that we establish the principle that
espionage of any sort is impermissible, but it is indisputable in our view that
the nearly twenty-five years that Mr. Pollard has served stands as a sufficient
time from the standpoint of either punishment or deterrence.
 
We further believe that at a time when Israel, our democratic ally, is being
faced with difficult decisions, a decision by you to grant clemency would not
only be a humane act regarding Mr. Pollard, but it would also be taken in Israel
as a further affirmation of the strong commitment the U.S. has to the ties
between us, and we believe that such an affirmation could be especially useful
at a time when those decisions are being made.
 
In summary, we see clemency for Mr. Pollard as an act of compassion justified by
the way others have been treated by our justice system; as an act that will do
nothing whatsoever to lessen our defenses against espionage; and a step that far
from hurting the national security, could advance it by the impact it would have
within Israel. We urge you to use the clemency power in this case.

Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
972 (0)54 441 3252

 

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Sincerely,

Robin Ticker
This email  is L'Ilui Nishmat  Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan)  a great activist and lover of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichrono Baruch. 

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