The Time Is Right-Free Jonathan Pollard

Has anyone ever heard of Major Yosef Amit or Andrey Kielcyneski (also known as Joseph Barak)? They were Israelis who spied for the United States.
How about these Americans: Michael Schwartz who admitted to spying for Saudi Arabia and was discharged from the Navy but received no jail time. Or Samuel Morrison who was convicted of spying for Great Britain and sentenced to two years in prison and only served three months. Or Abdul Kader Hehy, who served only 2 years of a four-year sentence for spying for Egypt. Let’s not forget Robert Kim, convicted of spying for South Korea. He at least served 7 years of a nine-year sentence. And there are many more similar examples.
Yesterday, Jonathan Pollard began his 21st year of a life sentence, convicted of spying for Israel. Justice has been served. It is time to commute his sentence.
Now don’t get me wrong. What Pollard did was inexcusable. He broke his oath and betrayed his loyalty to the United States by spying for a foreign nation. He deserved to be punished and to serve jail time. However, the punishment must equal the crime. According to U.S. law the maximum sentence for offences like Pollard’s is ten years. The average sentence is 2 to 4 years.
It is time for Pollard to be released. Nothing is served by further incarceration. In fact it is unconstitutional for prison time to outweigh the crime. This is exactly what is happening in this case.
I was living in Washington D.C. at the time of Pollard’s arrest, trial and conviction. I was embarrassed as an American Jew, as a Zionist that he had done what he did, but I was also shocked at the harshness of the sentence. The Walkers, who had spied for the Soviet Union hadn’t received like sentences. I thought it was a bit bizarre.
Over the years, like many American Jews (and Israelis-I now live in Israel), Pollard has largely dropped from my radar, only to occasionally rise. Now is such a time, when this man has entered his third decade of incarceration that we must call for his release. The American Jewish community, after so many years of silence, needs to once again, loud and clear, start a campaign to free Jonathan Pollard. Israel must exert diplomatic pressure on the United States to free this man who was awarded Israeli citizenship.
According to U.S. law, treason is defined as levying war against the U.S. and giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Pollard broke the law; he did not commit treason. Israel is an ally of the United States. Allies routinely spy on each other, in legal and illegal ways. The United States included. Countless examples can be cited.
One of the only reasons that I believe Pollard is still incarcerated is because members of the intelligence community are still angry at Pollard for the way he easily compromised their intelligence efforts and probably for the sheer amount of information that he passed over to the Israelis. Perhaps it is also to serve as a warning to Israel. Maybe even a warning to the American Jewish community against dual loyalty. Pollard therefore is a scapegoat, an example.
It is shameful.
Jonathan Pollard has paid overtime for the crime he committed.
The time has come for him to be set free.