Wishing Pollard “a new and fulfilling life” with his wife, Esther, Shai pledged the caucus would continue to work to lift restrictions imposed on Pollard with his release. Netanyahu, who said he pushed for Pollard’s release before multiple US presidents, added that he waited a long time for his release.
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The 61-year-old former Navy intelligence analyst was set free in the middle of the night from a medium-security federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, after being paroled from a life sentence that had turned him into a continual source of tension between the USA and Israel.
Anne Pollard, his ex-wife, told Army Radio in Israel that she has “been waiting for this day for 30 long years”. “It’s an fantastic moment”.
However, they have said that he has given assurances that he has a job and a place to live in the NY area. The 17-page petition does not challenge the requirement that Pollard remain in the United States for the next five years.
The US reportedly considered freeing Pollard in 2014 in return for Israeli concessions to the Palestinians during faltering peace talks, before negotiations collapsed.
The case sharply divided opinion in the USA, which now provides more than $3bn (£2bn) a year in aid to Israel and hundreds of millions more in loan guarantees.
The supporters who have lobbied for Pollard’s freedom argued that his sentence was too harsh, and that he had provided information critical to Israel’s national security.
“The decision I made was based on fear and concern…those were emotions that got the better of me”, he said.
Pollard interacted with high-ranking Israeli intelligence officials and gave them several suitcases of classified documents on Israel’s Arab adversaries and military support they received from the Soviet Union in the course of a year and a half. He had earlier drawn the suspicion of a supervisor for handling large amounts of classified materials unrelated to his official duties.
In 2014 many in the Israeli media speculated about a deal between the U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, and Netanyahu that would free Pollard in exchange for a freeze on contentious Israeli settlements.
Although he has said his guilty plea was coerced, he has also expressed regret for his actions, telling The Associated Press in a 1998 interview that he did not consider himself a hero.
Edelstein praised the low-profile release and said that “if we don’t make waves” then “it’s possible that he will be able to fulfill his dream and come here, leaving behind all the suffering he endured”.
The Parole Commission may end his parole at any time, but is not obliged to reconsider its terms for two years.
Both the Justice Department and Pollard’s lawyers have so far declined to discuss details of his parole.
Israel initially claimed that Pollard was part of a rogue operation but acknowledged him in the 1990s as an agent and granted him citizenship. “After three long and hard decades Jonathan is at last reunited with his family”, said Netanyahu, who had long pressed for releasing Pollard. Rather, he volunteered. The Jerusalem Post recently reported that when Pollard was 16, he attended a summer camp in Israel and asked to become a spy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to welcome Pollard’s release.
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The disagreement over whether Pollard had committed “serious crimes” or was a well-meaning ideologue fretting over Israel’s vulnerability has been the crux of one of the longest-lasting tensions between the United States and Israel.
