Washington – Attorneys for Jonathan Pollard, who has served nearly 30 years in prison for spying for Israel, said Tuesday the U.S. has granted him parole and he will be released in November.
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Pollard, an American, was arrested in November 1985 as he tried unsuccessfully to gain asylum in Israel’s Washington embassy in a sensational espionage case that captivated public attention and stoked passions. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Supporters argued that he was punished excessively given that he spied for a country that’s a U.S. ally. Critics — including prosecutors and government officials — called him a traitor who damaged the nation by disclosing a trove of sensitive documents.
“We are grateful and delighted that our client will be released soon,” said a statement from Pollard’s lawyers, Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman.
Pollard was eligible for parole in November as part of the terms of his sentence. His lawyers said the decision to grant him parole, which followed a hearing earlier this month, was “not connected to recent developments in the Middle East” — an apparent reference to the Iran nuclear deal.
The U.S. has previously dangled his release, including during Israel-Palestinian talks last year, when the Obama administration considered the possibility of releasing Pollard early as part of a package of incentives to keep Israel at the negotiating table. As it turned out, the peace effort collapsed despite the Pollard release offer and nothing came of the proposal.
White House and other officials have adamantly denied that Pollard’s planned release is in any way tied to the Iran nuclear deal. And Israeli officials have said while they would welcome Pollard’s release, it would not ease their opposition to the Iran agreement.
Pollard, 60, has battled health problems in recent years and is being held in the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina. He is scheduled for release on Nov. 21, his lawyers said.
Had he been denied parole, his lawyers said, Pollard would have been required to serve an additional 15 years in prison. But the Justice Department earlier this month signaled that it would not oppose Pollard’s parole bid.
The attorneys said Pollard was “looking forward to being reunited with his beloved wife Esther.”
now what would all the people who made this a full time vocation do with all the free time?
PS watch out “Mrs” Pollard you will get dropped liked all prison wifes do
They wasted the whole life of a good man, a martyr for E”Y. Pitiful!
I always felt that the severity of his sentence was a message to American Jews in sensitive positions.
He is deathly sick
Playing in the hands of this emissary of the devil BHO
Hodu LaShem Ki Tov Ki L’Olam Chasdoi !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mazel Tov! However, the question is whether or not the USA will permit Pollard to travel, and live in EY? Don’t forget, that Israel held an Israeli in solidary confinement (Mordechai Vanunu, who worked in a nuclear facility in Israel, and tried to sell nuclear secrets abroad ), for 18 years, or three times the amount of time Pollard spent in solitary. Also, once he was released from prison, he was prohibited from leaving the country. To this day, he is closely monitored by the Israeli authorities. I’m afraid that the same fate will await Pollard.
Good,its about time.
Even though he committed a serious crime of spying still he has loads of supporters saying his punishment was too stiff since he spied for a country that’s a U.S. ally.In a way i agree.
I would also urge the same people to take a hard look on many of our fellow Jews sitting in prison for a very long time.Even though they did commit crimes you should be fair in your mind as you are to Pollard. Rubahskin 27 Years. Samet,nebach 27 years who is already in prison close to 15 years. Another fellow yid who was sentenced not too long ago for a 100 years.
Lets see if you really mean Rachmonis on a fellow yid or when it comes to Pollard you get blind becuase of Israel/Zionism.
B”H!!!!!!! Mazal Tov!!!!!
I don’t have a problem with him being released at all. But, I also don’t think this is something to celebrate. Let him go home and live out the rest of his days carrying the shame and disgrace as the American traitor that he is. People are hell-bent on turning him into some kind of hero and it is a disgusting slap in the face to the nation in which we live freely. Pollard, much like the money-grubbing, opportunistic piece of garbage he later married, was a liar, thief and fraud who tried sell American secrets to the highest bidder. Just remember… this isn’t just about him wanting to sell secrets to Israel. Information stolen by Pollard was later discovered in Russia, South Africa and China and he attempted to pass information to Pakistan on more than one occasion. His conviction and sentence was not ENTIRELY for the passing of secrets to Israel as he and his supporters contend.
In my opinion he deserved the death penalty and luckily that did not happen. Now he has given up the majority of his life to pay for his despicable crimes. He should go live in shame as the disgrace he is. But somehow this traitor will end up a hero and used as an example by antisemites.
Wasn’t this a well known fact for over a decade??
He could have faced the death penalty for espionage. People keep forgetting that Israel wasn’t the first country that Pollard approached offering classified information for payment. He wasn’t being altruistic, but was looking to be a paid spy. Now Rubashkin was convicted of relatively minor crimes and received an inordinate sentence. There is no comparison between the 2.
Wow – so much misinformation, disinformation and armchair jurisprudence flowing here. Just let him be. Enough is enough. He paid 30 years. Others have done far worse and done much less time. Amazing how pious and righteous people here can be behind he facade of anonymity.
Mazel tovv to Pollard, his damily, the Jewish people and the American people. This was a miscarriage of justice from the start. I am sending a check to the Aleph Institute to celebrate and taking out my family to dinner
A good day for the world!
To #21 -Are you ignorant or being sarcastic?? The Soviet Union was never an ally of the USA!!
I am glad it’s (almost) over. Whatever happen, Yonason is a yid and I wanted him freed for a very long time.
I suppose B. Hussein will let him move to Israel soon, in exchange for Israel’s (Netanyahu’s) acquiescence to some of his demands. In the absence of such concessions… America is not such a bad place to live for 5 years.
I have long been opposed to releasing this guy. That said, perhaps I have been wrong. It will be good to get this irritant out of the relationship.
It seems that freed from the need to run for re-election, Mr. Obama is doing a number of things that were politically impossible before. He has opened the embassy in Havana, he is pardoning people sentenced under harsh drug laws and now this.
It will be good to see the end of this man.
To #36 - You called Jonathon Pollard an “irritant”. Why don’t you use the same language to your neighbors in Saudi Arabia where you live? Are they not irritants? After all, nearly all of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. To this day, there is suspicion that some elements of the Saudi Government actually assisted the 9/11 hijackers with financing. The USA, for whatever reason, always treats the Saudis with kid gloves, in spite of the fact that the Saudis were responsible for the 1973-1974 oil embargo against the USA. The Saudis were the ones who pressured George H.W. Bush, to attack Iraq, to get them out of Kuwait, as they were afraid that Saddam was going to invade their oil fields. Then, they pressured George W. Bush to invade Iraq. When the Saudi rulers came to NYC in 1957, and 1966, they stated that “all Jews are our enemies”. As a result, both Mayor Wagner and Mayor Lindsay refused to greet them at City Hall. Their religious police constantly harass their own citizens. Yet, you reside in that horrible place, and periodically contribute your nickel and dime remarks to this site. What chutzpah!!
To #37 -PMO in Florida-It is true that Pollard removed hundreds of highly sensitive documents, and illegally gave them to his Israeli handlers. While he should have been punished, he was double crossed by Caspar Weinberger, Judge Aubrey Robinson, as well as the prosecutor in that case. He should have not received more than 10-15 years, maximum. He cooperated, and plead guilty to one count of passing unauthorized information. He was never convicted of treason. Also, the stories that he endangered CIA agents in the field, and provided secret information to other governments, were totally false!. To this day, the government has refused to release the so-called secret documents which it alleges that it has, implicating Pollard in far greater crimes. Essentially, he was a pawn between two governments. There is no doubt that Shimon Peres, Yitzchak Shamir, and even Yitzchak Rabin knew what was going on. However, Pollard’s chief handler, Col. Aviem Sella fled the jurisdiction of the USA. If EY had returned Sella, and returned most of the stolen documents, Pollard would have been released at least 15 years ago. Pollard was treated inhumanely in solitary confinement for years. A shanda!!