Speaking to Haaretz, Obama supporter Jack Rosen says 'it looks like
he'll be released in the next few years – shortly'; this is despite the
Obama administration's stated refusal to discuss Pollard's release.



By
Mordechai I. Twersky

The release of Jonathan Pollard, the convicted Israeli spy
serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison, is "inevitable" and could
take place shortly on "technical grounds," a a prominent Jewish leader
and supporter of U.S. President Obama told Haaretz.


The comment, made by Jack Rosen,
chairman of the Council for World Jewry, who is in Jerusalem to chair
the International Conference of Mayors, came in an apparent
contradiction to the Obama administration's staunch refusal to discuss Pollard's release.
Notably, late last year the New York Times quoted U.S.
Vice President Joe Biden as telling Jewish leaders that the convicted
spy would be released "over my dead body."




While later Biden denied he used
that exact phrase, he did, however, confirm that the sentiment expressed
in that rejection was indeed his own.




Speaking to Haaretz, Rosen,
however, said: "Right now, it looks like he'll be released in the next
few years – shortly," he said. "There are some technical reasons, I'm
told, why he'll be released. I think there's an inevitability to that
happening."




Rosen, a New York City real
estate executive who hosted Obama at his Upper East Side home for a
Democratic Party fundraiser last November, would not be more specific.




"I was told what the technical
reasons were but I forgot," he said. "But it won't be because of a
presidential pardon." Pressed further as to whether Pollard would be
released prior to the U.S. presidential election in November, Rosen
replied: "No, no, no. I don't know when it would be. It would be in some
short period of years."




Rosen's prediction comes nearly a
month after President Shimon Peres sent a personal letter to Obama
urging him to consider granting clemency to the 49 year-old Pollard, who
was convicted of spying for Israel in 1986.




Peres' missive came after a
recent hospitalization prompted Pollard's wife, Esther, to request an
urgent meeting with Peres, who is expected to receive the Presidential
Medal of Freedom from President Obama next month.




Peres is being urged by Pollard
supporters to consider refusing America's highest civilian award until
the convicted spy is released.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-jewish-leader-release-of-convicted-israeli-spy-jonathan-pollard-is-inevitable-1.428769