Phone campaign to free Pollard

[TorahZionist]

This is a kol kore by Gedolei Yisrael for people to contact the White
House as often as possible between now and Pesach asking President
Bush to release Jonathan Pollard. Please comply with this kol kore
and participate in the mitzva rabba of Pidyon Shevuyim! Thank you
very much.

Pesach Lerner <plerner(at)YoungIsrael.org> wrote:

shalom--

attached please find the full page ad we have discussed.

please place it up as up front as possible, on the right side of the page.

attached, please find the accompanying press release, campaign
announcement.

perhaps give this announcement front page coverage and add to the
importance of the cause by writing about it on your editorial pages.

thank you

pl

Rabbi Pesach Lerner
Executive Vice President
National Council of Young Israel
111 John Street Suite 450
New York, NY 10038
212-929-1525 ext 115
Fax 212-727-9526
Cell 917-209-8204

Date: February 7, 2007

For immediate release

Nationwide White House Call-In for Jonathan Pollard

White House Telephone Number 1-202-456-1414

A nationwide 60-day call-in to the White House campaign has begun and
will continue through the Holiday of Pesach / Passover, the Holiday of
Freedom, to call to the attention of President George W. Bush the
continued unfair incarceration of Jonathan Pollard.

Organizers of the campaign remind the community that the White House
counts and tallies all in-coming calls, so every single phone call
makes a difference. The White House phone number is 1-202-456-1414.
Callers are asked to call daily between the hours of 11-2 pm EST and
to encourage their family members and friends to do the same. Callers
are reminded to expect the lines to be busy and to keep calling until
they get through.

The call-in drive is a nationwide initiative spearheaded by the
National Council of Young Israel, with the participation of national
and regional Jewish organizations, in conjunction with the Rabbi Leib
Geliebter Memorial Foundation, and sponsored by Comprehensive Network,
Inc. The senior Rabbinic leadership of Agudath Israel of America have
recently reiterated their support and signed a declaration, once
again adding their names to the list of Rabbis and community leaders
calling upon all Jews to convey the message to President Bush that Mr.
Pollard has served long enough and that the time has come to free him.

Jonathan Pollard is currently in his 22nd year of imprisonment, many
of which were under very difficult conditions, for the crime of
giving classified information to a friendly nation and ally, Israel.
Others who committed similar or even more serious crimes have received
more lenient sentences and treatment.

"The 22 year time period is significant," says Dr. Joseph Geliebter,
Director of the Rabbi Leib Geliebter Memorial Foundation. "In Jewish
Biblical tradition, 22 years was the period that Joseph was separated
from his father, Jacob; the Talmud also indicates that during the 22nd
year of an unresolved matter there is Heavenly intervention (Tractate
Kesubos, 42b; see commentary of Rashi)."

In reference to Pollard's life sentence, Federal Judge Stephen
Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
declared "…the government's breach of the plea agreement was a
fundamental miscarriage of justice…"

Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City and a former federal
prosecutor, has said that "given comparative sentences, [Jonathan
Pollard's] sentence – this I happen to know because I have seen the
documents – is way beyond the sentences served by other people that
have been convicted of the same offense."

"Against all reason," says Rabbi Pesach Lerner, D.Adm., Executive
Vice-President of the National Council of Young Israel, and one who
has championed the Pollard cause, "all regular channels for Mr.
Pollard to have his sentence reconsidered have failed. Despite the
intensive efforts of Jonathan's outstanding pro-bono attorneys, all
legal avenues of appeal have been stymied by a justice system,
unwilling or unable to correct itself. Only the President of the
United States, by granting Mr. Pollard executive clemency, can prevent
Mr. Pollard from languishing in prison for the rest of his life. We
need to convey the message to President Bush that Mr. Pollard has
served an unusually long sentence and the time has come to free him."

According to James Woolsey, who reviewed the entire classified
Pollard file as former director of the CIA under President Clinton,
Pollard has served a long sentence and he favors releasing him .
Woolsey said "…now that he has served 20 years of a prison sentence,
my view is that a 20 year sentence is enough and I think the close
relationship between the United States and Israel as fellow
democracies is also a consideration."

Former U.S. Ambassador Dennis Ross, who for more than 12 years
played the leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East
peace process, under the administrations of President George Bush and
President Bill Clinton, has also publicly announced that Pollard's
sentence is excessive and that he should be released, adding that
"Pollard has been in jail for so long that whatever facts he might
know would have little if any effect on national security today."

Dennis DeConcini, U.S. Senator (Arizona, retired) and former chairman
of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee (responsible for
overseeing Federal intelligence activities) agrees that Pollard
should be released, and has written, "I am convinced that Mr. Pollard
has expressed the appropriate remorse and served adequate time" .

In a letter to the President, the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations wrote, "...while they represent a broad
spectrum of views, the fifty-four member organizations unanimously
authorized us to communicate this appeal that you grant clemency to
Mr. Pollard...Mr. Pollard has paid for his crime."

It is now the time to call upon the President to release Mr. Pollard.
Every phone call is important. Everyone is encouraged to start calling
the White House at 1-202-456-1414 and to call daily.

For additional information about the Jonathan Pollard cause, or to
print out the campaign ad, please visit www.jonathanpollard.org

For additional information about the nationwide White House call-in
campaign, please contact Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive
Vice-President, National Council of Young Israel, at 212-929-1525 or
freepollard(at)youngisrael.org



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