Chutzph Dershowitz
In Alan Dershowitz's novel Chutzpah, he devotes an entire section to the issue of, and his personal feelings about James Pollard. He begins this section with a description of the way in which this man was caught selling classified government documents to the nation of Israel. Basically this man was a Jewish American spy for the Israeli government because of a duty he felt stemming from a secret loyalty he felt toward the nation of Israel. Over an extended period of time this man sold thousand of secret documents which in the eyes of Weinberger, the Secretary of Defense for the United States was a Òserious breech in national security.Ó Dershowitz emphasizes in great detail how in order to avoid a trial in which the declassification of these documents would be required, Pollard was pressured to accept a plea bargain in which he would plead guilty, give full disclosure pertaining to the information he handed over, and release all rights to any of his future published material that p
However, Dershowitz has pledged to fight on his behalf until he is released. The evidence that Dershowitz presents suggests that Pollard did get an unfair deal, and a much harsher sentence than others in the past have received for similar crimes. He states: I am convinced that if Pollard were a non-Jew who had spied for a non-Jewish country, he would not be in prison today. He reiterates over and over that PollardÕs actions were not in conflict with American national security and that Israel was some how entitled to the documents because in many ways they pertained to Israeli national security. Dershowitz does his best to downplay PollardÕs acts of treason and at the same hammers home his point that Pollard is being unfairly held. Pollard agreed to this deal and was satisfied with it until he received a sentence of life in a maximum security prison and his wife received 5 years in prison. Ó Dershowitz finds fault in the way PollardÕs lawyers handled the case. In exchange for these things he would be granted a formal request by the US government to the judge of the case which would call for a restricted sentence for him and his wife. It has been suggested that if Pollard were released he could move to Israel at which time he would receive a heroÕs welcome and a new life of wealth and prestige. It is likely that Pollard received less than a square deal from the US government in regards to his sentence. Dershowitz makes a convincing argument that Pollard received a sentence that was inconsistent both with past cases as well as what he was actually promised in return for his guilty plea. He repeatedly emphasizes that Israel is an American ally, and that Pollard could have easily commanded much greater sums of money than he received from Israel if he had sold the information to more hostile nations. There is no doubt that in DershowitzÕs eyes that this case is an issue of race and not so much an issue of foul play. This is something that a majority of Americans would find disheartening at best.
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Acceptance Essays
