Father of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard dies at 95

[bemildred]

Morris Pollard, the father of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, passed away on Saturday at the age of 95.

The Pollard family has requested that Jonathan Pollard be permitted to attend his father's funeral.

Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 on charges of spying on the U.S. for Israel. He is incarcerated at a federal jail in North Carolina.

Last week, the family had called on U.S. President Barack Obama to allow Pollard to visit his dying father. That request was not granted.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/father-of-convicted-spy-jonathan-pollard-dies-at-95-1.368443

[oberliner]

1. Do you think he should be allowed to attend the funeral?

And do you think he will be permitted to do so?

[bemildred]

2. Seems like a "flight risk" to me. Otherwise I would be OK with it.

I would hazard a guess that the answer will be "F**K NO", and that it will stay that way.

[oberliner]

4. Well he wasn't allowed to go to his mother's funeral

So I think you are right about this one.

[Violet_Crumble]

8. I think not being allowed to visit his father when he was dying indicates he won't be allowed now...

I suspect he'd be considered to high a flight-risk to be allowed to attend, but if it were up to me, I'd let him attend and just make sure he was well guarded and didn't escape. It's not like he's a risk to the public or a murderer or anything like that...

[leveymg]

3. Would any other federal prisoner convicted of a major felony? If so, sure,

why not, with a squad of Federal Marshals at his side.

He can leave Club Fed permanently when he reveals the identify of Mr. X.

[Dick Dastardly]

7. Why should we pay for a squad of feds and everything else it would cost

for this criminal to attend the funeral. He should have thought about this before he commited his crimes.

[customerserviceguy]

5. Hmm, has good genes

He might have to spend quite a few years in the pokey. At least until he becomes the final bargaining chip with Israel.

[exboyfil]

6. Leave the traitor where he is

I remember when Clinton was close to pardoning him. I am glad Clinton decided to leave him be.

As far as I am concerned, he should have been executed along with those other traitors Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames.

[Ken Burch]

9. He should be allowed to attend, on humanitarian grounds.

And, at the same time, Israel should lift all the restrictions it still has in place against Mordechai Vanunu. Unlike Pollard, Vanunu didn't do any harm.

[oberliner]

10. U.S. denies Jonathan Pollard's request to attend his father's funeral

The White House on Monday spurned requests to allow convicted spy Jonathan Pollard to attend his father's funeral in Indiana.

Pollard's father Morris passed away on Saturday at the age of 95, after complications from an illness. He was buried in South Bend, Indiana, without his son present.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-denies-jonathan-pollard-s-request-to-attend-his-father-s-funeral-1.368767