Monday, March 18, 2013

A Traitorous Bridge Too Far

It is that time of year again.  No, not just twitter fight club (see next post).  No, it is the time of year where Israeli folks and their friends try to convince the US to release Jonathan Pollard, a convicted traitor.  As I have discussed here before, it comes down to this: you do the crime, you do the time.  You betray your country on behalf of another one, then expect to enjoy a prison cell for the rest of your life. 

If Israeli politicians want to waste their country's political capital on this issue, go right ahead.  If they want to use this issue to demonstrate back home, that they are strong defenders of Israel's interests, go ahead.  But if they want to be successful in their policies, pick another policy.  I sincerely doubt that this administration will cave into the pander-pressure.  Why didn't Pollard's allies raise the issue during Hagel's confirmation?  Or Kerry's?  Pardons are the President's business, sure, but the Senators had no problems extending the line of questioning beyond Hagel's area of responsibility.  Perhaps siding with traitors is a bridge too far?

Anyhow, I am not going to waste more time on it.  I will let the fans of traitors do that.


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