Washington – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the upcoming release of Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer convicted of spying for Israel, was not tied to the nuclear agreement with Iran.
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Israel’s leaders have strongly objected to the deal and there has been speculation that Pollard’s release, scheduled for November, was arranged to help warm U.S. ties to Israel despite that disagreement.
“I haven’t even had a conversation about it. No, not at all,” Kerry told reporters as he left a House of Representatives committee hearing on the nuclear agreement.
A federal parole board has ruled that Jonathan Pollard will be released in November after serving a 30-year prison sentence.
They said the decision by the U.S. Parole Commission was unanimous and was “not connected to recent developments in the Middle East.”
U.S. officials earlier had denied speculation that Pollard’s release would be aimed at smoothing tense relations with Israel over President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely opposes. But freedom for Pollard will be welcomed with enthusiasm in Israel.
Pollard, 60, who was convicted in 1987 of spying for Israel and sentenced to a life term, has long been eligible for parole in November.
The granting of his parole – with a release date of Nov. 21 – came after the Justice Department agreed not raise objections, his attorneys said.
“We look forward to seeing our client on the outside in less than four months,” said Pollard’s lawyers, Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, in a joint statement.
Even though Pollard will be barred from leaving the United States for a five-year period, his lawyers said Obama could waive that parole requirement and allow him to go to Israel immediately after his release.
“Washington – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the upcoming release of Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer convicted of spying for Israel, was not tied to the nuclear agreement with Iran.”
“Even though Pollard will be barred from leaving the United States for a five-year period, his lawyers said Obama could waive that parole requirement and allow him to go to Israel immediately after his release.”
Maybe – maybe – the release was not tied to the Iran agreement. But if you don’t think that Obama’s decision to waive the 5-year period is dependent on Israel playing ball, you are naive.
I don’t normally participate in large gatherings (why provide bait for Moslems) but welcoming this hero will be one large gathering I would fully plan to attend
In politics, there are no coincidences. One stronger statement. There is zero reason to trust Obama or Kerry. The whole administration has politicized everything. For too may years, true words were not spoken at the White House. But the media hears this gibberish and repeats it, hoping that the fools in the electorate will eventually believe it.
A politician Always lies unless when he denies