Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — A former senior U.S. official said Jonathan Pollard’s life sentence for relaying
classified information to Israel reflected poor decisions made by American
leaders in dealing with the Jewish state.

The official, former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, cited an affadavit by then-Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger in what overturned a plea bargain agreement
between federal prosecutors and Pollard in 1986.

“The affidavit filed by former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, was surely inspired in large part by his deeply held animus toward the state of Israel,” McFarlane said in a letter to President Barack Obama. “His extreme bias against Israel was manifested in recurrent episodes of strong criticism and unbalanced reasoning when decisions involving Israel were
being made.”

So far, Obama has refused to commit to examining the Pollard case. In the fall of 2011, the president was quoted as telling an American Jewish supporter that he was being “bugged” by Israel regarding Pollard.

The Feb. 9 letter by McFarlane marked the first time a colleague of
Weinberger, whose paternal grandparents left Judaism, attributed his actions
to hatred of Israel. McFarlane served under President Ronald Reagan with
Weinberger from 1983 to 1985.

In 2011, Weinberger’s former assistant, Lawrence Korb, asserted that
Pollard’s life sentence was the result of the defense secretary’s “visceral
hatred of Israel.” Both Korb and McFarlane have urged Obama to commute
Pollard’s sentence.

“In this case, the resultant imprisonment of Mr. Pollard for more than
26 years is more than excessive and well beyond what any court would award
for the same action today,” McFarlane wrote.

McFarlane, who worked closely with Weinberger on national intelligence,
said Pollard cooperated with the FBI investigation. Federal prosecutors
determined that Pollard disclosed U.S. Navy intelligence to Israel without
intent to harm the United States.

“Mr. Weinberger’s unduly harsh and unwarranted severity was disgraceful
and mean-spirited,” McFarlane wrote to Obama. “It has resulted in a great
injustice that I encourage you to mitigate by awarding clemency and
commuting Jonathan Pollard’s sentence to time served.”

  “visceral hatred of Israel”, Barack Obama, Caspar Weinberger, Despite plea from ex-official, Jonathan Pollard, McFarlane blames Weinberger’s ‘deeply held animus’ towards Israel for Pollard life sentence, Robert McFarlane, Ronald Reagan