Jonathan Pollard: Restoring Israel to greatness
By JONATHAN POLLARD The Jerusalem Post 16/08/2013
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=323271
Speaking up for the first time in 28 years, Pollard reserves some tough
words for Israel; says that a country with no respect for the dead has no
respect for the living.
When tragedy strikes anywhere in the world, the State of Israel is always
among the first to offer help, sending experienced rescue teams, portable
hospitals and world-class medical experts to the scene. Israel is a world
leader in medical research, farming technology, and military innovation. The
country that made the desert bloom is the undisputed champion of hi-tech
innovation, all of which it generously shares with the world.
Unfortunately, when it comes to morale, the State of Israel has the
distinction of holding a number of world records which no other country
would want.
Over the last six decades, Israel’s leaders and its judiciary have practiced
the art of political expedience to such a degree that Israel is now the
first and only country in the world to hold the following dubious “honors”:
• Israel is the only country in the world ever to voluntarily expel its own
citizens from chunks of its homeland in order to hand over the land to its
enemies.
• It is the only country in the world ever to voluntarily destroy the homes
and businesses of its own citizens, leaving them with shattered lives and
broken promises.
• Israel is the only country in the world ever to voluntarily dig up and
transport the graves of its dead so that the land could be turned over to
its enemies.
The State of Israel also holds unenviable world records for betraying those
who serve the state, including the following:
• Israel is the only country in the world to restrain its military from
rescuing a wounded soldier, for fear of provoking the enemy and risking its
approval ratings with the world. The soldier, injured by enemy gunfire at a
Jewish holy site, slowly bled to death needlessly while the IDF stood by and
watched.
• Israel also remains the only country in the world ever to voluntarily
cooperate in the prosecution of its own intelligence agent, refusing him
sanctuary, turning over the documents to incriminate him, denying that the
state knew him, and then allowing him to rot in a foreign prison for decades
on end, cravenly forgoing its right to simple justice for the nation and for
the agent.
• Additionally, Israel is still the only country in the world ever to
violate its own system of justice by repeatedly releasing dangerous,
unrepentant murderers and terrorists back into the civilian population with
impunity. No other country in the world has ever done this! In summary,
Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world so
befuddled by moral ambiguity that it is willing to dishonor its dead, betray
its bereaved, and disgrace its citizens for the sake of political
expediency.
Earlier this week, the State of Israel began the staged release of some of
the worst murderers and terrorists the world has ever seen. Twenty-six out
of the 104 murderers scheduled for release went free on Tuesday. Many are
serving multiple life sentences for their heinous crimes and their many
victims.
The blood of their victims cries out from the grave at this affront to human
decency. Their cries go unheard.
The bereaved families of the victims beg and plead not to free the savage
murderers of their loved ones. Their entreaties are ignored.
All the polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens
are opposed to the release of the murderers. It is a strange kind of
democracy that pays no heed whatsoever to the will of the people.
No Israeli official has advanced a single compelling reason in support of
the wholesale release of these murderers and terrorists. The claim that it
“serves national interests” is spurious. There is no national interest that
supersedes morality.
The second-most touted excuse is that the government of Israel was given
three existentially threatening choices by its best ally, and the least
damaging choice of the three was the release of murderers and terrorists.
Did anyone at the helm ever consider that given three life-threatening
choices, the only response is: “No, no and no!”?
Overriding all objections, the government of the State of Israel is bound
and determined to release the murderers, whose victims are not all dead.
Some have been maimed, crippled and disfigured for life. Others show no
external scars but have had parents, children and loved ones amputated from
their lives. No one sees the broken hearts that will never stop bleeding for
their loss.
Authentic Jewish tradition teaches in great detail how to relate to the dead
with honor and reverence. The dead are not only keepers of the past; they
are our teachers, our moral guides and our inspiration for the future. A
country with no respect for the dead has no respect for the living.
A sovereign state which is capable of dishonoring its dead by freeing their
murderers and tormenting their bereaved loved ones has, in essence,
discarded all of the moral underpinnings of its own existence.
Nor should it come as any surprise – as any student of history knows – that
no country can survive without a clearly defined moral infrastructure.
The Land of Israel is eternal and the State of Israel has temporal
stewardship over the land. The corrosive moral ambiguity that has brought us
to this dreadful day is relentlessly eating away at the legitimacy of the
state’s continued role as legal guardian of the land. The prognosis is dire.
Only a reawakening of national resolve and a rebirth of ethical politics
rooted in national selfrespect, moral rectitude and courage of conviction
can guarantee the future. No political process devoid of these fundamental
values will ever end the agony or the fear for the State of Israel.
It is clearly time for an historic restoration.
==================
Jonathan Pollard is completing his 28th year of an unprecedented life
sentence in an American prison for his activities on behalf of Israel.
Friday 16 August 2013
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