“We wish Jonathan and his family, in their reunion, long and prosperous years ahead, health and peace”, Rivlin said.
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Former United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard, jailed for life in 1987 for passing classified information to Israel, has been released. “It’s unbelievable. It’s an fantastic moment”.
The commission also said Pollard’s probation officer could subject him to curfew and “exclusion zones;” these would be in addition to the statutory requirement that Pollard request permission to travel outside the area of New York City, where he now will reside. The couple, originally from the US, moved to Israel in 2004, but were back in the states visiting when they learned that Friday was to be the day Pollard was paroled.
The case sharply divided opinion in the United States, 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 lawyers said Pollard had been a “model prisoner” and that there was no reason to fear he might commit acts of violence or reveal further USA intelligence that by now, in any case, would be so outdated as to be meaningless. Like other supporters, he said Pollard was “double-crossed” into thinking he would receive leniency in exchange for a guilty plea.
“I hope that he settles down and lives the remaining years as best as he can”, Reich said.
Israel denied official involvement with Mr. Pollard for several years, refusing to grant him asylum before his arrest, and only acknowledging in 1998 that he had worked directly for the Israeli government.
The Navy intelligence unit became suspicious of his actions in the fall of 1985, because he was handling large amounts of classified information that had nothing to do with the regions he was assigned to.
Pollard said that he acted out of love for Israel, and that the USA was not sharing crucial intelligence about Arab countries with its ally.
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”.
“Jonathan has served his time right down to the very last day, to the very last minute”, she said to reporters. “That does not work”.
“The parole after 30 years was expected by many”, Michael Brenner, director of the Center for Israel Studies at American University, told AFP. “After three long and hard decades, Jonathan is finally being reunited with his family”.
Eliot Engel and Jerrold Nadler, have also written U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, saying that Pollard should be allowed to renounce his American citizenship and emigrate to Israel. As part of the standard terms of the parole, he is not allowed to leave the country, foiling his desire to move to Israel.
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But after years of Israel repeatedly seeking Pollard’s release, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed his release on his verified Twitter account. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama has no plans to alter the parole conditions.
