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Nathan Jeffay

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Nathan Jeffay,

Nathan Jeffay

Opinion

It's Israel's latest farce - 'When Shalit met Pollard'

November 17, 2011 11:23
3 min read

A month ago today, Gilad Shalit walked free, and it has not taken long for his tragic story to become thoroughly exploited. Advocates for Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence in America for spying for Israel, are jumping on the Shalit bandwagon.

Pollard's wife Esther has long eyed the Shalit campaign with bitter envy, and now wants to swoop in and make her husband the new Shalit. "If the public is capable of ignoring Pollard… but devoted heart and soul to returning Shalit home, its concern for Shalit is as corrupt as its lack of concern for Pollard," she wrote last year.

Esther Pollard now demands that the Israeli public and government employ the "same determination, effort, infrastructure and focus" to free her husband as it did for Shalit.

The argument is everywhere. Former congressman Matt Salmon wrote in the Jerusalem Post: "Now that the campaign for Gilad Shalit is over, Israelis and friends of Israel should redirect that focus to winning the release of Jonathan Pollard."