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Deuteronomy 32:1
M AY T H E E A RT H H E A R T H E WO R D S O F M Y M O U TH
January 7, 2011| 24 Shevat 5771
Vol. 7, Iss. 1
www.JewishVoiceNY.com
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Pressure Mounts to Release Andrew Cuomo Jonathan Pollard as Netanyahu Moves Toward Sends Official Request to Obama Openness on First Day in Office
A Dark Day For The Snow Blind Mayor
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Moroccan Jewish Heritage Celebrated at the ASF PHOTO BY SMUEL BEN ELIEZER
Page 28 Hon. Serge Bergudo and ASF President David E.R. Dangoor
Prime KO: A Lesson in Asian Fusion
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BY FERN SIDMAN The Voice of Israel government radio has reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Knesset on Tuesday evening, January 4th at which time he publicly read the much anticipated missive that he has personally penned to President Barack Obama requesting the release of Jonathan Jay Pollard. former United States Navy intelligence analyst, Pollard has been incarcerated in the U.S. for 25 years on charges stemming from passing of classified information to Israel. Pollard is presently in failing health in a North Carolina federal prison and an orchestrated campaign amongst his supporters is underway to seek his freedom. In an unprecedented public appeal to the United States requesting clemency for Pollard, Prime Minister Netanyahu became the first prime minister to formally and publicly request his release. "Since Jonathan Pollard has now spent 25 years in prison, I believe that a new request for clemency is highly appropriate," Netanyahu wrote Obama in the letter. "I know that the United States is a country based on fairness, justice and mercy. For all these reasons, I respectfully ask that you favorably consider this request for clemency. The people of Israel will be eternally grateful." In the letter, Netanyahu
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apologized for using an agent to spy on the United States and pledged that it would never happen again. "Israel's actions were wrong and totally unacceptable," he wrote. Netanyahu has made previous attempts to trade Pollard for pliancy in Middle East peace negotiations, in the hope that his release would appease conservatives in the Israeli government. He also made Pollard's case a bargaining point with the Palestinians at the Wye Plantation talks in 1998. Most recently, in September of 2010, Israeli officials tried to float a deal in which they would extend a temporary moratorium on settlement construction in Judea and Samaria, a Palestinian condition for negotiations, in exchange for the release of Pollard. "Israel will continue to abide by its commitment that such wrongful actions will never be repeated", said Netanyahu. In a personal message to Pollard, Netanyahu then added in his speech that he should "continue to be strong," and told him that the entire nation was behind him and vowed that "you will be here soon." Opposition leader Tzipi Livni called Pollard "perhaps only the issue that everyone here in the Knesset could agree on." Previously, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin has sent a letter from the Knesset to U.S. President Barack Obama, Congress, and the U.S. Attorney General, pleading for the release of Jonathan Pollard. The letter was signed by a leader in every
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Andrew Cuomo hit the ground running as he begins his term of office. BY STEVEN STORCH Gov. Andrew Cuomo made an impassioned plea for public support and legislative cooperation after he was ceremonially sworn-in and arrived for work as the state’s 56th governor. he newly minted executive pledged in a soaring 27-minute speech to deliver in the coming days “emergency financial plan” to close the state’s $10 billion budget deficit, push for a cap on local property taxes and overhaul the state’s ethics system. Cuomo, speaking to about 200 family, friends and state political leaders in the Capitol’s vaulted War Room, vowed to change the culture of secrecy, scandal and cynicism that he said had made state government a “national punchline.” “The joke is on us,” Cuomo said. “Too often government responds to the whispers of the lobbyists before the cries of the
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