The Pollard-Schalit connection

The Pollard-Schalit connection
By ESTHER POLLARD. The Jerusalem Post
July 11, 2010
Israel has not taken effective action to bring Gilad or Jonathan home 
alive.

The government of Israel has flailed about for four years “trying” to
secure Gilad Schalit’s release, but failing miserably.

The more time goes on, the more doubts there are about Schalit’s
continued viability.

It is a fact that ever since my husband, Jonathan Pollard, was
arrested in 1985 and abandoned by the State of Israel, the Israeli
government has not succeeded in bringing a single captive IDF soldier
home alive.

It may well be that Gilad Schalit’s swift return home, alive, depends
on his connection to Jonathan Pollard.

How so? Let’s answer that question by way of analogy.

WHAT IS the best that can be said about a mother with two sons with
special needs, who allows her friends to lock her elder son away in a
cellar and throw the key away, while she devotes all her time, energy
and attention to her younger son? To be kind, such a mother would, at
best, be described as either morally deficient or mentally disturbed.

Regardless of how her psychological state is defined, it is twisted
and precludes her ability to act wisely, fairly or effectively for
either of her sons. The two sons are part of the same psychological
whole, but a mentally unbalanced mother is unable to relate to either
of them in a healthy, normal, lifesustaining way.

Worse still, her psychological state prevents her from seeing and
accurately accessing all of the available options for her sons, and
thus impedes her from making good decisions for either of them.

Thus, it is specifically her abandonment and betrayal of her older son
that defines the mother’s moral/psychological state and prevents her
from taking the most effective and appropriate action to save her
younger son.

Jonathan Pollard and Gilad Schalit are sons of the same mother, the
State of Israel.

Pollard and Schalit have more in common than the fact that they both
served the State of Israel.

Schalit served as a soldier, guarding its borders. Pollard served as
an agent, providing it with the information that caused its civil
defense plans to be changed from bomb shelters to sealed rooms and gas
mask kits ­ not a small contribution to the state’s ongoing security.

Both Pollard and Schalit remain in captivity because of a warped
morality that prevents government leaders from making good decisions
for either of its national sons.

The national psychosis which declared Pollard expendable 25 years ago
and leaves him to rot in captivity is still ongoing, and has resulted
in a moral paralysis which prevents the State of Israel from taking
effective action to bring any captive home alive, Gilad included.

EFFECTIVE ACTION does not mean the release of hundreds or thousands of
murderers and terrorists.

Quite the opposite. Effective action, by definition, is action that
would produce the desired result ­ freedom for a captive ­ without
endangering the rest of Israel’s soldiers or civilian population.

Surrendering to terror and rewarding those who killed, maimed and
murdered by setting them free is not justified and is morally corrupt.
This plan seeks to free one captive by endangering the lives of all
Israeli citizens and all Israeli soldiers.

There are many ways to free a captive and bring him home alive, but a
lack of moral integrity prevents the government from seeing or
implementing these other solutions.

The government and its cohorts in the defense-intelligence
establishment appear to be far more concerned about what will be said
on CNN than they are about freeing captives and bringing them home.

Similarly, the public, via the media, has been seduced into believing
that Israel has one captive and one captive only: Gilad Schalit. Any
attempt to bring Pollard into the discussion is met with vehement
protest and slanderous lies being bandied about by government
officials attempting to shake Pollard off, the way you would shake
something odious off of the bottom of your shoe.

Again, this is the root of the problem that keeps both Pollard and
Schalit in captivity. It is a manifestation of one Israel’s highest
values, not leaving a wounded solder in the field, being warped and
perverted to apply it selectively.

By definition, there is no such thing as mutual responsibility ­ all
for one and one for all ­ when it is applied selectively.

If the public is capable of ignoring Pollard, an Israeli agent in
captivity for 25 years, but devoted heart and soul to returning
Schalit home, its concern for Schalit is as corrupt as its lack of
concern for Pollard. It reflects the same moral schizophrenia that the
government has implemented as policy ­ a policy that damns Schalit,
every bit as much as it damns Pollard.

Returning a captive home requires no moral ambiguity. It requires
moral integrity and moral consistency. It requires national pride and
self-respect.

The noisy, boisterous and bullying campaign for Gilad Schalit would do
well to open its eyes to the truth. Jonathan Pollard’s rescue and
timely return home is the key to bringing all of our captives home
alive.

The writer is the wife of Jonathan Pollard, an American-born Israeli
citizen who worked for the Ministry of Defense. He is currently in his
25th year in an American prison for his activities on behalf of the
security of the State of Israel.

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