Knesset members send letter to US Vice President Biden requesting "compassionate leave" for Pollard to go home to visit his ailing father.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANJonathan Pollard 311(photo credit: Courtesy)
A petition signed by 75 MKs from 12 Knesset factions will be sent next week to US Vice President Joe Biden asking him to take action to enable Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard to leave prison for a day to visit his father Morris on his deathbed.Morris Pollard was hospitalized at Memorial Hospital and Health System in South Bend last weekend after suffering from the impact of a severe bladder infection. Since then, his condition has deteriorated, and he is said to be comatose and no longer being treated.RELATED:Ayalon: Peres should ask US for Pollard's releasePollard learns father is dying, issues new appeal“I request your assistant in a humanitarian effort to secure Pollard’s temporary release in order to allow him to be with his elderly father,” the MKs said in the letter. “This could well be the last opportunity for father and son to see each other.”Kadima MK Nachman Shai said all the MKs signed without hesitation – and more would have signed were it not for the tradition that ministers don’t sign petitions.He said Biden was chosen as the destination for the letter because he serves as president of the Senate.American-Jewish leaders have been lobbying for Pollard to be granted what is called “compassionate leave” for 24-hours.Pollard reportedly spoke to his father on the phone before he became comatose.
