Orthodox Group Uses Jonathan Pollard Case To Push For Criminal Justice Reform
Image by Getty Images
By Josh Nathan-Kazis December 7, 2018
An Orthodox group voiced support for a bipartisan prison reform bill which would ease prison sentencing, and tied the criminal justice reform effort to its ongoing advocacy for former Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.
“As the White House seeks to improve the lives of so many through the advancement of comprehensive and compassionate criminal justice legislation, we urge President Trump to take steps to allow that benevolence to apply to Jonathan Pollard as well,” said Farley Weiss, president of the National Council of Young Israel. “After having served three decades in prison due to a highly disproportionate sentence, Jonathan Pollard deserves to have his outrageous parole provisions relaxed and be permitted to travel to Israel.”
Pollard pleaded guilty to spying for Israel in 1987. He was released in 2015, but is barred under the terms of his parole from traveling to Israel.
The National Council of Young Israel has long been one of the most vigorous voices in support of Pollard. Their press release praising President Trump for his support of the prison reform bill, called the First Step Act, mentioned Pollard in its headline.
“YOUNG ISRAEL: PRESIDENT’S SUPPORT FOR ‘FIRST STEP ACT’ IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION,” the headline read. “Reiterates Call for Jonathan Pollard to be Permitted to Travel to Israel.”
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Fast Forward ‘New Jersey tough’: Gov. Phil Murphy on released Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, a Tenafly native
-
Fast Forward Hamas releases Edan Alexander, last living American hostage, to Red Cross
-
Fast Forward In Tenafly, NJ, a crowd awaits the release of local son Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
- 4
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
In Case You Missed It
-
News In Edan Alexander’s hometown in New Jersey, months of fear and anguish give way to joy and relief
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Opinion Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free
-
Opinion A judge just released another pro-Palestinian activist. Here’s why that’s good for the Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.