Jonathan Pollard May Become An Election Year Issue

At the conclusion of the Haaretz article about the Reform movement, we read that the issue of Jonathan Pollard is being picked up by the Republican candidates:

Until recently, most campaigns did not provide the positions of their candidates on this issue. But now that the U.S. Jewish leaders plan to send delegations to visit Pollard in jail - candidates are thinking about adding their positions on the issue to their talking points.

So far, Newt Gingrich said he'll think about clemency, because the convicted spy spent enough time in jail. Mitt Romney refused to commit to release Pollard should he become president. It is still controversial - but it's certainly interesting to see that to commit to military attack against a country of over 70 million is easier than to commit to release one veteran prisoner.

During the course of this past year, many public figures have come out in favor of clemency for Jonathan Pollard--but nothing happened.

Now, could Election Year pressure for the Jewish vote do the trick?
Maybe a better question is: why the Jewish leaders waited till now to do this?

In any case, just as Pollard did not approve as his release being used as a bargaining chip for the extension of a building freeze, I don't think he will approve being used by Republicans looking for a way to pick up Jewish votes.

Hat tip: IMRA

Technorati Tag: Jonathan Pollard and Election 2012.