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  Israel steps up campaign for convicted spy
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ContributorCraverguy 
Last EditedCraverguy  Apr 11, 2012 03:20pm
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CategoryNews
AuthorJosef Federman
MediaNewspaper - San Francisco Chronicle
News DateWednesday, April 11, 2012 07:20:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionIsrael is ratcheting up calls on Washington to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, in a campaign that has reopened a long-running feud with its closest and most important ally.

Israeli leaders say that after 27 years the former civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy should be freed. But the White House is standing firm, rejecting Israeli appeals based in part on claims that Pollard suffers from life-threatening ailments.

Pollard, 57, was arrested by FBI agents in Washington in 1985 after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents to Israel and received a life sentence. He is eligible for parole in three years.

Pollard, who is Jewish, enjoys widespread sympathy in Israel, where many believe the sentence was too harsh and where he was granted citizenship after he was imprisoned.

The Pollard affair is enmeshed in a web of highly fraught issues. One is the very idea of spying against an ally — especially a country's primary patron. Another is the delicate issue of suspected dual loyalties among American Jews, and their own concerns about being seen in such a light.

Then there is the mostly unspoken, yet frequently assumed, question of linkage — namely that the U.S. would reward Israel for progress made in peace efforts with the Palestinians with Pollard's release. On that score the prospects seem especially dim: President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have clashed repeatedly over Israeli policy, especially settlement construction in the West Bank.
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