During meeting with U.S. president in Washington, prime minister makes personal appeal to Obama to release convicted Israeli spy from U.S. prison • No progress made at meeting • Pollard’s wife, Esther, in own appeal: “I would like to call on President Obama, from the bottom of my heart: Please commute Jonathan’s sentence and release him immediately.”
Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard has been imprisoned in the U.S. for the last 26 years on charges of spying for Israel. | Photo credit: AP |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday took a reprieve from his Iran-heavy discussions during his trip to Washington this week to raise another key issue with U.S. President Barack Obama: the release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.
During his highly-anticipated meeting with Obama early Monday in Washington, whose focus was nearly entirely devoted to the issue of Iran and the bomb, Netanyahu took time to reiterate Israel’s demand that Pollard, who has been imprisoned in the U.S. for 26 years on charges of spying for Israel, be released, telling the U.S. president, “It is important that [Pollard] comes home.”
However, no progress was made during the meeting. The organization working on behalf of Pollard’s release expressed regret at Washington’s refusal to free the Israeli agent despite similar calls for his release made by President Shimon Peres during his own meeting with Obama this week.
According to the Pollard advocacy group, dozens of former U.S. officials have recently asked Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence and have gone so far as to write the president to tell him that his continued imprisonment runs contrary to the ideals and values of U.S. justice. The officials also stressed that most spies convicted of performing espionage for non-enemy states have served significantly shorter sentences.
Following his meeting with the U.S. president, Peres on Monday sent a message to Pollard’s wife, Esther, in which he said, “I appealed to Obama about [the release] of your husband. I hope he will be released.”
Esther Pollard made her own appeal to Obama on Monday evening, issuing a public statement that said, “I would like to call on President Obama, from the bottom of my heart: Please listen to the voices of countless U.S. officials and the voice of the people of Israel and its leaders. Please commute Jonathan’s sentence and release him immediately.”
Netanyahu asked President Bill Clinton to pardon Pollard during the negotiations on the Wye River Memorandum in 1998, and said Clinton had agreed. The request, however, was vetoed by then director of the CIA George Tenet, who was outraged by the prospect of Pollard walking free. Netanyahu also sent a personal request for Pollard’s release to Obama, and other high-ranking officials in the governments of both countries have made similar requests. Even after Pollard’s father, Dr. Morris Pollard, passed away in June, Pollard was not allowed to attend his funeral.