White House Pre-Empts Israeli Request For Jonathan Pollard Release On Obama Visit
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (EJP)---The White House appeared to pre-empt an inevitable repeat request from Israel for the release of convicted Israeli-American spy Jonathan Pollard on US President Barack Obama’s next month’s visit to Jerusalem.
“Our position has not changed and will not change today. Mr Pollard was convicted of extremely serious crimes,” spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
On Monday, Obama’s Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres evaded a question from the media at the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organisations in an apparent effort to avoid a rift with the US which has been uncompromising in its insistence across several administrations that the issue of Pollard’s release was not up for negotiation.
The President’s spokesman Ayelet Frish later told Israeli press that Peres had met with the imprisoned Pollard’s wife Esther as recently as several weeks ago along with members of the Justice for Pollard Committee and would continue to do everything in his power to secure the convicted spy’s release.
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http://www.ejpress.org/article/64980