A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
United States v. Jews

It took only 11 minutes for the U.S. to recognize Israel, and for the past four decades, America has by far been Israel's closest ally. America has also of course been a land of great opportunity for its Jewish minority.

There is one area in which Jewish Americans are subject to state persecution, and that is when their relations with Israel - real or imagined - are deemed worthy of scrutiny. The Department of Justice opposes bail for American Jews under indictment on grounds that they might immigrate to Israel, while it prosecutes Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman on extremely dubious grounds. The Pentagon, FBI and CIA falsely accuse people like David Tenenbaum of being spies for Israel, and as a matter of course deny security clearance to Jews who have visited Israel, or have relatives who live there.

Then there is Jonathan Pollard. It is disappointing, but not really surprising, that President Bush did not grant Pollard's request to commute his sentence. After more than 23 years in prison, and with a life sentence, there isn't much cause for optimism that Pollard will be released anytime soon - if ever.

Earlier this month, Newsweek quoted former CIA director James Woolsey as saying that the duration of Pollard's imprisonment is typically reserved for "only the hard-line Soviet bloc spies." Woolsey therefore supported Pollard's release, so long as he expresses contrition and agrees not to profit from any book or movie deals.

Pollard's crime was very serious, justifying a long prison sentence. But for Pollard to be serving an identical sentence to Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen is a disgrace.

Alas, Pollard had the misfortune of spying for Israel. Had his espionage been on behalf of, say, China or Saudi Arabia, Pollard would have been home many years ago.

Or perhaps not. After all, unlike Pollard, those who spied for those countries are not Jewish.
posted on 1/19/2009