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Israel asks US to let spy attend father's funeral

24107

24107

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JERUSALEM – Israelis are rallying behind convicted spy Jonathan Pollard like never before, urging the U.S. on Sunday to let the former Pentagon analyst leave prison to attend his father's funeral.

Israelis widely feel that after 25 years behind bars, Pollard has been excessively punished, and they seem puzzled over the U.S. refusal to set him free, despite recent calls for his release from some prominent former American officials.

Pollard was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he copied and gave to his Israeli handlers enough classified documents to fill a walk-in closet.

Israel asks US to let spy attend father's funeral - Yahoo! News
 
guy should be executed
 
i know what he did was wrong, but would it have been so bad to let him say goodbye to his Dad before he died. his Dad didn't do anything wrong.


Pollard wife, Esther, said she hoped her husband would be allowed to bury his father after not being able to see him in person.

"Right now we are just so brokenhearted, because Morris so much wanted to see Jonathan before he died, and Jonathan wanted so much to part from his father like a real loving son," she said, in tears. "He just wanted to say goodbye to his dad, and he never got a chance."
 
Serenity said:
i know what he did was wrong, but would it have been so bad to let him say goodbye to his Dad before he died. his Dad didn't do anything wrong.


Pollard wife, Esther, said she hoped her husband would be allowed to bury his father after not being able to see him in person.

"Right now we are just so brokenhearted, because Morris so much wanted to see Jonathan before he died, and Jonathan wanted so much to part from his father like a real loving son," she said, in tears. "He just wanted to say goodbye to his dad, and he never got a chance."
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the issue wasn't with his dad, it was with him.

Why should someone who sold state secrets get ANY type of preferential treatment?
 
ManofthPeephole said:
the issue wasn't with his dad, it was with him.

Why should someone who sold state secrets get ANY type of preferential treatment?
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i can understand both sides in this case. i wouldn't be doing it for Pollards wishes, it would be for his dad. he's an innocent victim of his Sons actions too.
 
ManofthPeephole said:
the issue wasn't with his dad, it was with him.

Why should someone who sold state secrets get ANY type of preferential treatment?
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I agree he should be locked up for a long time, but not letting him attend his father's funeral is unnecessarily cruel.
 
spud_meister said:
I agree he should be locked up for a long time, but not letting him attend his father's funeral is unnecessarily cruel.
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why should a guy, who sold a closet full of state secrets, garner any special treatment? Who knows the danger he put people in, due to his betrayal of trust
 
**** the spy
 
Arcana XV said:
The man is dead. It's too late to do anything for him at this point. :shrug:
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my posts are in response to the link where it stated that he was not allowed to visit with his father before he died.
 
Arcana XV said:
Why should his father get any preferential treatment that countless other fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, do not get?
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It is not preferential treatment it is avoiding 'cruel and unusual' punishment which, however much you dislike it, is wrong.
 
nothing about this denial "rises" to the level of cruel and unusual punishment
 
William Rea said:
It is not preferential treatment it is avoiding 'cruel and unusual' punishment which, however much you dislike it, is wrong.
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Cruel and unusual for whom? The criminal or is father? If it's the former, I absolutely disagree. If it's the latter, I'll say that anytime a loved one is put in jail, it's cruel and unusual "punishment" for the family members. Them's the breaks.
 
justabubba said:
nothing about this denial "rises" to the level of cruel and unusual punishment
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If other prisoners of similar status are being allowed this right then it is 'cruel and unusual' to deny it.

If Justice is not blind then it very quickly deteriorates and nothing makes it deteriorate faster than allowing politics to start making specific sentencing and penal decisions over individual prisoners. If you are really a liberal then you have to accept that and live with the consequences, blind justice is non-negotiable.
 
ManofthPeephole said:
why should a guy, who sold a closet full of state secrets, garner any special treatment? Who knows the danger he put people in, due to his betrayal of trust
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Would it have been 'special treatment' or, is it standard practice to allow prisoners to attend the funeral of their next of kin/parents?

Paul
 
William Rea said:
If other prisoners of similar status are being allowed this right then it is 'cruel and unusual' to deny it.

If Justice is not blind then it very quickly deteriorates and nothing makes it deteriorate faster than allowing politics to start making specific sentencing and penal decisions over individual prisoners. If you are really a liberal then you have to accept that and live with the consequences, blind justice is non-negotiable.
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do we generally let spies, who have close ties to foreign states, go to family funerals.

Seems the guy would be an extremely high flight risk, and a potential danger to national security
 
gunner said:
Would it have been 'special treatment' or, is it standard practice to allow prisoners to attend the funeral of their next of kin/parents?

Paul
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prisoners of his status? This isn't simply a guy who snatched a car
 
Serenity said:
i know what he did was wrong, but would it have been so bad to let him say goodbye to his Dad before he died. his Dad didn't do anything wrong.


Pollard wife, Esther, said she hoped her husband would be allowed to bury his father after not being able to see him in person.

"Right now we are just so brokenhearted, because Morris so much wanted to see Jonathan before he died, and Jonathan wanted so much to part from his father like a real loving son," she said, in tears. "He just wanted to say goodbye to his dad, and he never got a chance."
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Leniency should not be shown just because some scumbag has a relative,especially a dead relative.
 
Serenity said:
i can understand both sides in this case. i wouldn't be doing it for Pollards wishes, it would be for his dad.
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His dad is dead and his father is irrelevant to the fact his son was convicted for spying.


he's an innocent victim of his Sons actions too.
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How is his dad a innocent victim? Did his father get thrown in prison because of what his son did?
 
ManofthPeephole said:
prisoners of his status? This isn't simply a guy who snatched a car
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I'm just trying to ascertain if there's a standard prisoner policy? Or as your suggesting it depends on the crime....

What about prisoners on death row?

Paul
 
ManofthPeephole said:
prisoners of his status? This isn't simply a guy who snatched a car
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I think he would be a flight risk, so I can understand denying him permission. Just last year, the imprisoned former governor of Illinois - George Ryan - was denied permission to visit with his terminal wife. She passed away about three months later.

What I will never understand is why the Lockerbie bomber was released in 2009 for “humanitarian reasons”. As far as I know, he is still alive today
 
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