Netanyahu ‘looking forward’ to US release of spy Pollard

What matters is that Pollard should have been released years ago, for his sentence was way too harsh from the start.

“After decades of effort, Jonathan Pollard will finally be released”, Netanyahu said after a phone call with Pollard’s wife Esther.

“Throughout his time in prison, I consistently raised the issue of his release in my meetings and conversations with the leadership of successive US administrations”.

“The Department of Justice has always maintained that Jonathan Pollard should serve his full sentence for the serious crimes he committed, which in this case is a 30-year sentence”, said Marc Raimondi, spokesman for the Justice Department’s national security division.

Jonathan Pollard, an American who was convicted of spying for Israel in a sensational espionage case that inflamed public sentiment, has been granted parole as reported by his lawyers.

“Immense joy”, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked wrote on her Facebook page in Hebrew, adding that “thirty years of suffering will come to an end this November”.

But since news of Pollard’s possible release began to surface last week, White House officials have adamantly denied that diplomatic or political considerations played any role in a decision they said was reached independently by the parole board.

Meanwhile the Justice Department reiterated its commitment for having Pollard, 60, fully serve his sentence.

Israel did not admit Pollard spied for it until 1998.

He was arrested as he tried unsuccessfully to gain asylum in Israel’s Washington embassy.

Israel, in a gesture of solidarity, granted Pollard citizenship in 1995.

The U.S. says Pollard provided reams of sensitive and classified information to Israel, including about radar-jamming techniques and the electronic capabilities of nations hostile to Israel, including Saudi Arabia.

The Obama administration considered early release in the spring of 2014 as a sweetener to encourage Israel in an Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, but the idea caused an uproar in the US intelligence community and was quickly dropped.

Israel’s Channel 2 reported Tuesday evening that the planned release date is November. 20. And Israeli officials have said that while they would welcome the release, it would not ease their opposition to the Iran agreement. But the government was also right to keep him as long as it has.

The Israeli government for years has been demanding a pardon for Pollard. He is serving his sentence in North Carolina. In the 1990s, then-CIA Director George Tenet threatened to resign if President Bill Clinton agreed to such a request.