Money can be a weapon, offensive or defensive, as can anti-Semitism.
And, sometimes anti-Semitism is money.

Here is an article published in The Atlanta Jewish Times.
I will note it was published just a few months before 9/11, when our world changed.
Somethings, however, have not changed.

I saved this webpage years ago to my hard drive from the Jonathan Pollard website.

I will provide the original link to the Jonathan Pollard organization server, but use it at your own risk.

http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2001/042001a.htm

I am providing the entire article here, as using the link to the Jonathan Pollard organization is problematic.

Article: Money Talks
By: Steve Berman of the Jonathan Pollard organization

Money Talks Steve Berman – The Atlanta Jewish Times – April 20,
2001
Reading a recent New York Times article about the involvement of the
Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Executive Director, Abe Foxman, in the Marc Rich
case brought back a painful memory for me. In 1991 I went to Denver to meet with
Foxman about the case of Jonathan Pollard, the American who had pled guilty to
spying for Israel. Pollard was serving a life sentence in jail.
Pollard’s case was, and still is, an anomaly within the American justice
system. Pollard supporters had compiled an impressive list of comparable sentences for
the crime Pollard had pled guilty to. The typical penalty ran from no jail time
to rarely no more than two years incarceration. Yet, here was Pollard, in
solitary confinement, serving a life sentence. One could only reasonably
conclude that the crime of spying for Israel, by a Jew, carried with it a
heavier burden than if one committed the same act for South Africa or Egypt.
I went to the meeting with Pollard’s attorney, Ted Olson. We knew that if we
could get the ADL off the fence, and involved in the case, we stood a very good
chance of gaining the necessary political momentum Pollard needed to get a fair
hearing by then-President George H. Bush on commuting Pollard’s sentence to
“time served.”
The meeting started out very poorly. Both Foxman and then-ADL President
Melvin Salberg immediately showed resistance to getting involved in the case at
all. Foxman informed us that the ADL had studied the case in great detail and
had found no signs of anti-Semitism. I responded that detecting such behavior
was not as simple as counting the number of synagogues that had swastikas
spray-painted on them.
My protestations aside, Foxman and Salberg showed no interest in either
Pollard’s case or anything Olson or I had to say that day. Foxman’s attention to
us bordered on outright indifference. At one point he excused himself from our
conversation to take a phone call. Speaking for five minutes on a phone 10 feet
away from us, I could hear him going over the more mundane aspects of the day’s
proceedings with his wife.
Olson and I left the meeting empty-handed. Foxman insisted that because ADL
saw no signs of anti-Semitism in Pollard’s case, they could not get involved on
his behalf.
Nearly 10 years have passed, and Ted Olson has gone on to international fame
by his strong representation of George W. Bush in the presidential election. I
went on to grow my real estate business and work within the Atlanta Jewish
community. Foxman stayed at the helm of the ADL, presiding over an organization
that raises around $40 million a year.
Jonathan Pollard was eventually transferred from solitary confinement in
Marion, Ill., to a medium-security facility in North Carolina, where he sits
today 15 years into his life sentence. Both Presidents Bush and Clinton have
declined to commute Pollard’s sentence to “time served.”
Foxman’s words. “We see no sign of anti-Semitism here, therefore we cannot
get involved,” had more or less receded to the back of my mind only to be
covered up by the gray hair of passing time. The anger I felt when I left Denver
had mellowed.
But all these feelings lay under the surface, just waiting to be scratched by
the article in the paper that reported that Abe Foxman not only lent his support
to fugitive financier Marc Rich, but according to him, actually helped initiate
efforts on Rich’s behalf. Reading the article, I could feel the pulling at the
wound, and I could hear Foxman’s words all over again like it was yesterday.
I wanted to yell at the paper, “Hey Abe, where is the anti-Semitism here? The
U.S. government must really be out to get that guy Rich because he was Jewish.
Never mind that Rich owed it a mere $48 million dollars in taxes, illegally
trafficked in trade with Iran and fled the arm of justice to live a life of
privilege in Switzerland.”
Where is the real leadership within the American Jewish community on matters
as diverse as Pollard and Rich? Are we debating issues facing us based on their
merit, or have we succumbed to the intoxication of money, just like our
politicians?
With all the good work that the ADL has done over the years, especially Jay
Kaiman’s office here in Atlanta, isn’t it time they apologize to Pollard and
work to secure his release from prison? Shouldn’t Abe Foxman, while laying
himself at the feet of the American Jewish community, asking for forgiveness, be
apologizing to Pollard as well?
How different would Jonathan Pollard’s life have been if I went to my meeting
in Denver and had been a big donor looking for some special attention? Would
Foxman have said, “We see no signs of anti-Semitism here, but give us a few days
and we’ll come up with something and then we’ll write a letter to President Bush
about our discovery?
You be the judge.
Steve Berman is president of the Greenfield Hebrew Academy. He also serves
on the boards of the New Atlanta Jewish Community High School, Jewish Federation
of Greater Atlanta, Jewish Family and Career Services and the American-Israel
Chamber of Commerce.