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Contributing Editor
Editorial
David Project's Israel
Model Could Endure
Time To Let
Pollard Go
Convicted Israeli
spy has more than
paid societal debt.
W
ith Israeli President Shimon
Peres stepping up the
pressure for Israeli agent
Jonathan Pollard's release from the U.S.
prison system after almost 27 years of
incarceration, much of the time in soli-
darity confinement, Barack Obama has
no choice but to listen ... hard.
The time has come for the U.S. presi-
dent to extend clemency in part on
humanitarian grounds, but also given
that Pollard is the only per-
son in U.S. history to receive
a life sentence for disclosing
classified information to
an American ally. Obama
is the fifth president since
Pollard's spying conviction,
but the clemency ground-
swell is now at a fever pitch.
Peres visited Washington
last week to receive the
Presidential Medal of
Freedom from Obama at
the White House. Honored on June
13, Peres brought along a petition,
signed by 70,000 Israelis, that seeks
Pollard's release. The petition circu-
lated just two months. The diverse
list of signers includes former Israeli
President Yitzhak Navon, former cap-
tive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Nobel
laureates Dan Shechtman and Aaron
Ciechanover of the Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology in Haifa and
left-wing Israeli authors Amos Oz,
David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua.
Earlier, Peres, armed with a supportive
petition from 80 Israeli lawmakers, had
sent a personal letter to Obama, via
U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro, urging
clemency.
Pollard, 57, underwent kidney surgery
last year and is in poor health. "It is
only a matter of time until the next
medical crisis occurs:' his wife, Esther,
told JTA. He remains at the Butner
Federal Correctional:Complex in North
Carolina. It's remote he'd ever commit
another felony should he be released.
28
June 21 ' 2012
T
Jonathan Pollard
The former civilian intelligence ana-
lyst for the U.S. Navy is serving a life
sentence for passing classified infor-
mation to Israel. He was first jailed in
1985 and was sentenced two years later.
Ever since, debate has raged about not
only his guilt, but also the severity of
his sentence. Current clemency calls
rightly focus on the latter while affirm-
ing his guilt in the eyes of the law.
A 2010 U.S. House letter to Obama
pointed to "a great disparity
from the standpoint of jus-
tice 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:'
A bipartisan House letter
now circulating asks Obama
to commute Pollard's sentence to time
served while acknowledging Pollard
"broke the law and deserved to be pun-
ished for his crime."
Certainly, time served should be mea-
sured against the established time line
for such a conviction. Pollard commit-
ted a felony, took money for his illegal
actions, was found guilty, expressed
remorse and has paid a fair, even stiff,
price. The median sentence for such a
crime is two to four years in prison; the
maximum punishment is now 10 years.
Jewish support for clemency is broad
and deep, ranging from Orthodox,
Conservative and Reform groups to
the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations. Many
high-ranking former U.S. government
officials on both sides of the aisle have
implored Obama to extend clemency.
Over the years, it has been broached
that Israelis could construe clem-
ency as further affirmation of the
unshakable ties between America and
Let Pollard Go on page 29
rue anti-Israelists represent a small,
determined minority of students who
wield little sway in influencing the larger
1)
student population on campuses of higher
education. Reacting to their protests and pro-
FAR
vo,„s
SRAEG
grams by challenging them directly has little
long-term impact because their participant num-
bers already are proportionately low. A better strategy is to
promote Israel through positive rallies and activities.
That's the emerging attitude of the David Project, a Boston-based Israel
education and advocacy organization intended to encourage and support a
pro-Israel spirit on campus. The aggressiveness of old has assumed a more-
upbeat style in standing with Israel to avoid stepping into the quicksand of
counter-productivity where confrontation is bound to founder.
For example, instead of publicly challenging organizers of a boycott, divest-
ment and sanctions conference against Israel and its corporate supporters,
the David Project now would turn its spotlight off the anti-Israel gathering
and train it on the realities of the Jewish state. This game changer on the
minefield of political discourse is more attuned to the literal message that it
projects than the figurative enemies that it punches.
The David Project's new direction is told via the Israel Campus Beat (ICB),
a thoughtful student online publication that synthesizes Israel-related news
emanating from North American campuses. It's a direction that triggers
a provocative question: Should the venerable tactic of confronting anti-
Israelism on campus, and giving precious additional exposure to Zion-bashing,
give way to dynamic, educational actions that build networking among stu-
dents who see the enduring benefit of the U.S.-Israel alliance?
"It's got to be systematic," the David Project's executive director, David
Bernstein, told the ICB (www.israelcampusbeat.org ). "It starts with stu-
dents mapping out their campuses to understand the diverse sources of lead-
ership, and then reaching out to them and finding ways of building long-term
ties that raise understanding of Israel. There's no one size fits all, but engag-
ing the process in the long term can produce great results."
Time, of course, will determine that.
Midwest campus coordinator Jason Horowitz told ICB how a pro-Israel stu-
dent took the president of the black student union out for coffee in hopes of
sparking an alliance between Jews and blacks at Michigan State University –
and the chat blossomed into a Jewish Hearts in Africa event together.
Jews and blacks are more likely to find common ground than Jews and
anti-lsraelists. But the David Project change has a seductiveness that could
well withstand the gales of Israel hatred and actually work.
In February, the David Project released a sobering report that concluded:
"To ensure continued strong American support for Israel in the decades
ahead, the American Jewish community must find ways to turn the discussion
of Israel on campus in a more positive direction." The report sought "to assist
the leadership and staff of the pro-Israel campus network and the wider
Jewish community in developing a set of generally agreed upon principles."
Some schools are predisposed to a pro-Israel point of view. But improve-
ments in the nuances of Middle East discussion elsewhere can still be consid-
ered a win even if they fall short of generating widespread support for Israel's
policies, according to the report.
A key finding stresses that Israel supporters shouldn't frame Israel only in
Jewish terms. This finding makes sense on a number of levels, not the least
of which are that Israel is America's best friend in a strategically important,
but embattled region, and that Israel, though a Jewish state, is religiously
significant to Christianity and Islam as well. .
The David Project's strategic change is a bold gamble that could dissolve in
the swirling waves of unrest on our unpredictable campuses. Still, it's worth
embracing to test its seaworthiness in those harsh mists. 1 111
Avic,
PojEcr
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