NCYI again using and hurting Jonathan Pollard

National Council of Young Israel keeps claiming their approach of demanding clemency for Jonathan Pollard is working. Just give it a little more time.  Really?  Haven't they said that for the last 20 years?

Contacting the White House to request clemency for Jonathan Pollard does little good if he won’t apply for parole. All requests for Presidential clemency go through the DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney, Ronald L. Rodgers. Mr Rodger’s office has pointed out a number of times that unless Jonathan Pollard applies for parole he will not be considered for Executive Clemency.

In the United States Attorneys' Manual, Section 1-2.113, Standards for Considering Commutation Petitions paragraph 4 begins: The amount of time already served and the availability of other remedies (such as parole) are taken into account in deciding whether to recommend clemency.

The Rules Governing Petitions for Executive Clemency clearly state in Section 1.3 Eligibility for filing petition for commutation of sentence: No petition for commutation of sentence, including remission of fine, should be filed if other forms of judicial or administrative relief are available [like parole], except upon a showing of exceptional circumstances.

Pollards' own website has a letter ""I followed [the National Council of Young Israel] request to send a letter to President Bush. The response from the White House was that Mr. Pollard was eligible for parole, but had not requested parole."
How can we expect anything different from Obama when the Pardon Attorney is the same who served President Bush?

Calling for clemency over and over hasn't worked. Maybe applying for parole would? It cannot do any harm at this point and perhaps it will be granted. Even if it is not granted, it fulfills the prerequisite required for consideration of clemency. Supporters of Jonathan Pollard need to be made aware of this and help persuade Jonathan that it is in his best interest to apply for parole without any further delay.

(Below is the original blog post from 06/2010)

NCYI is once again presenting itself as Pollard's champion to try and distract attention away from what they have done to Syracuse, 5th Avenue and Susan Shalov. But it is Lerner's continuing discouragement to apply for parole that is hurting Jonathan Pollard the most and preventing him from being released.
NCYI should be dealing with its internal problems instead of repeating the same failed campaign supposedly on behalf of Jonathan Pollard.

We have seen that hishtadlus on Pollard's behalf by organizations led by NCYI seeking Presidential clemency have repeatedly failed. Jonathan Pollard’s best hope is to apply for parole and not involve the President at all. Our hishtadlus should be to support him in any way parole requires such as guaranteeing employment for him. Lerner keeps saying that in 1995 Jonathan Pollard's attorney said applying for parole would have been futile. The situation in 1995 was different than it is now. Since then appeals for clemency were not accepted by Bill Clinton nor George Bush and are most likely going to be completely ignored by Barak Obama or even worse, he will take notice and actively oppose parole.

We need to contact the United States Parole Commission (http://www.usdoj.gov/uspc/index.html) and request parole be granted to Jonathan Pollard. But in order to do that Jonathan Pollard first needs to file an application requesting parole. So when you write the USPC, also write to Jonathan Pollard tohave emunah and bitachon that Hashem will grant him parole so he should file the application and request it. For additional information please see http://www.usdoj.gov/uspc/questions.htm . Note that conditions may be required to be met in order for parole to be granted (http://www.usdoj.gov/uspc/furquest.htm). But those conditions would still be better than Jonathan Pollard remaining in prison.