Almost 30 years after his arrest, convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was released on parole from a us prison early Friday morning.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, which has long pushed for Pollard to be freed, welcomed his release. A USA court jailed Pollard for life in 1987 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defence information to a foreign government.
Speaking after Pollard’s release from federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, Netanyahu said: ‘The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard.
Between 1984 and 1985, Pollard stole classified documents and passed them to Israel in exchange for cash payments.
Lawyers Jacques Semmelman and Eliot Lauer said Pollard had been a “model prisoner” and that there was no reason to fear he might commit acts of violence or reveal further United States intelligence that by now, in any case, would be so outdated as to be meaningless. “After five years, Pollard must be released from his parole terms, unless the commission has a compelling reason to keep him on probation”.
Two NY congressmen have asked the U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch, to allow Pollard to renounce his USA citizenship and move to Israel immediately. They’re terms his attorneys call “onerous and oppressive”.
In their petition, Pollard’s lawyers complained that wearing a Global Positioning System monitor would be harmful to his health because he has severe diabetes and suffers chronic swelling in his legs and ankles. Frankly, I think part of the reason they don’t want him to go to Israel is that they don’t want him to be a hero there or influence Israeli politics with his conservative views.
Washington accused Pollard of seriously damaging United States interests during the Cold War. The only American ever given a life sentence for spying for an ally, Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship during his imprisonment.
Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations at Israel’s Bar Ilan University, said that the quiet response in Jerusalem over Pollard’s upcoming release was intentional. “As someone who raised Jonathan’s case for years with successive American presidents, I had long hoped this day would come”, he said.
In 1998 Bill Clinton agreed to review the case to satisfy the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, during peace talks.
His ex-wife, Anne, now lives in Israel, and posted to Facebook that she has prayed for his release. American Jews complained bitterly that the Pollard operation had exposed them to questions about their loyalty to the US, while a few Israelis responded that their nervousness was proof that life in the diaspora was untenable.
After learning of his release in July, Pollard said through his lawyers that he “is looking forward to being reunited with his beloved wife Esther”.
Despite the high profile campaign to secure a pardon, including a recent personal appeal to Obama by Netanyahu, in recent weeks it has become clear that Israeli politicians and Pollard’s supporters have changed tack.
The lawyers included statements from Robert “Bud” McFarlane, the national security adviser at the time of Pollard’s 1985 arrest, and former Sen.
He’s served 30 years in prison, and now Jonathan Pollard is being released from federal prison. “I’m relieved and I’m happy that our ordeal is finally coming to an end”.
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Pollard appeared relaxed and pleased to be out of prison. “We continue to demand the removal of any restriction on your freedom of movement, communication, or other violation of your rights”, Israeli lawmaker Nachman Shai wrote in a letter to Pollard.
