One of the ironies of American justice is that Sami al-Arian, who pleaded guilty to aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad, is being held in the same federal prison complex as Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is detaining them both in Butner, N.C. Pollard is serving a life-sentence for spying for Israel, while al-Arian is serving time not only for aiding PIJ but for contempt of court following his refusal to testify. Al-Arian, our Josh Gerstein reported in the Monday number of the Sun, is making a fresh attempt to persuade a federal appeals court to order an end to his imprisonment on the grounds that, at least al-Arian contends, in exchange for his guilty plea the prosecutors had promised him verbally that he would not have to testify further.

It is a matter about which he can commiserate with Pollard, if the two of them encounter one another at Butner. Pollard made his own famous appeal on the grounds that prosecutors broke their promises with him. The ex-spy for Israel failed in his effort to win a new sentence, but he did convince one judge, Stephen Williams, who rides the District of Columbia circuit for the United States Court of Appeals. In a devastating dissent, Judge Williams detailed what the Forward newspaper called at the time “the slyness with which the prosecutor sought to evade the obligations of the contract he had made with Pollard.” The judge went to far as to quote Macbeth’s curse against the witches, “And be these juggling fiends no more believ’d / That palter with us in a double sense; / That keep the promise of our ear, / And break it to our hope.”

Pollard’s experience led at least one Jewish activist, Barry Augenbraun of St. Petersburg, Fla., to offer public support for al-Arian’s appeal. When Mr. Gerstein asked him why he was speaking up for Al-Arian, Mr. Augenbraun, who is co-chairman of his local Jewish Community Relations Council, said, “I can give it to you in two words: Jonathan Pollard.” We have no idea whether Al-Arian can gain the en banc hearing that he is asking the 12 riders of the 4th United States Circuit to give him or whether, if he gets the hearing, he can convince the full bench of what he failed to convince a smaller panel. But let it not be said that our appeals bench is biased against the Palestinian Arab cause and tilted toward Israel. It’s something that Jonathan Pollard also learned the hard way. If one pleads to a crime in American courts, it’s hard to come back later and dicker over one’s terms.