In What World Does This Make Sense?

I celebrate the release of Jonathan Pollard from prison today. Jonathan Pollard, 61, was given a life sentence thirty years ago for selling American intelligence secrets to Israel. He has been released and will spend at least the next five years on parole. He sentence seems a little harsh, as we spy on our allies all the time. Spying on allies seems to be a normal mode of operation. Contrast this thirty-year sentence with the recent sentence of Jared Fogle, former spokesman for Subway sandwich shops. Mr. Fogle has been sentence to 15 years for child pornography and sex with a minor.

Yahoo News posted a story about Jonathan Pollard yesterday.

The story includes the following:

Both the Justice Department and Pollard’s lawyers have so far declined to discuss his parole conditions, but one longtime supporter, Rabbi Pesach Lerner of New York, told a radio interviewer this month that Pollard would have to abide by a curfew and wear a GPS unit to track his movements.

He has also been ordered to stay off the Internet, Lerner said, which could complicate his ability to hold a job.

“We’re concerned that maybe they are trying to set him up so they can say he broke his parole and send him back,” Lerner told Nachum Segal, who hosts a program on Jewish affairs on WFMU in New Jersey. “They’re keeping the reins on him very tightly.”

This man was never a threat to national security. There is no reason to believe that he will become a threat. It is obscene that he was kept in prison so long and that excessive restrictions are being put on him after his release. I wish the Obama Administration was as diligent about tracking the terrorists they release from Guantanamo.