NEW YORK – Welcoming the news that Jonathan Pollard will be granted parole and released from federal prison on November 21, the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, released the following statement:
“Jonathan Pollard has served the longest sentence of any individual convicted of similar offense in the United States and his freedom is long overdue,” said Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president. “Having visited with Jonathan Pollard at Butner Federal Correction Complex in North Carolina two years ago with members of the Reform and Conservative Movement, I saw firsthand the detrimental effects that this long incarceration had on his health. The RA has advocated tirelessly for Jonathan Pollard’s release for many years and we welcome this long-awaited news.”
“The Conservative Movement has numerous resolutions (1992, 1994, 1995, 2011) and statements (2012, 2013), highlighting Pollard’s remarkably unfair sentence,” said Rabbi William Gershon, president. “After all these years and decades of injustice, he will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers until the moment he is released. We look forward to when Jonathan Pollard can be back with his family as a free man.”