Imprisoned spy denounces deal with Hamas

Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel and imprisoned in 1987, has spoken out against the deal Israel is currently making with the terrorist group Hamas in order to secure the release of Gilad Shalit.

Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by a Hamas raid into Israel in June 2006 (a few months before his 20th birthday), is still being held in Gaza. Hamas has requested the release of 980 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit. The almost-1000 Palestinians include many who have been convicted of involvement in deadly terrorist attacks against Israel.

Pollard, who is rumored to have refused such prisoner swap deals that would have secured his own release (he’s stuck in jail until 2015), thinks the trade abhorrent, indeed – he calls it an act against God.

He made his view crystal clear to a couple visitors he recently had at Butner prison in North Carolina, both from Israel’s Likud Party. Instead of agreeing to the swap, Pollard said, Israel should kill one of the 980 requested prisoners every day until Shalit is released.

Definitely an incendiary remark, but Pollard’s got an interesting perspective. He is a prisoner himself, he feels abandoned by Israel, and yet he would not welcome his own early freedom if it meant the simultaneous release of a terrorist from prison.

Prime Minister Netanyahu “should not free terrorists, no matter what,” Pollard concluded. Mr. Feiglin, one of the men who visited Pollard in prison recently, said of him: “Just as he was ready to sacrifice his life rather than live knowing that one Jew died because of information that the US did not give to Israel, even after 25 years in prison, Jonathan is not ready for terrorists to be released from jail in exchange for him.”