Jonathan Pollard Will Arrive In Israel Before Elections

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is working on an agreement to have Jonathan Pollard brought to Israel a week before the March 2 elections, a Times of Israel (TOI) report said, quoting a Likud source who spoke to Zman Yisrael, TOI’s Hebrew sister site.

Former Israeli spy Pollard told Channel 12 News in an interview in August that he asked Netanyahu to use his influence to convince US President Donald Trump to allow him more freedom in order to care for his ailing wife Esther.

Esther Pollard is seriously ill with aggressive breast cancer and Pollard explained that he doesn’t have the freedom to properly take care of her since all his restrictions are like a “virtual prison.”

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“I can’t take care of my wife properly now because I have no freedom of movement,” Pollard said in August. “I’m not mobile. If she needs something in the middle of the night, I can’t leave home. Esther has been fighting for my life for 30 years. Now it’s my turn.”

“I ask Netanyahu to personally contact President Trump and request relief on my terms of release,” Pollard said. “I’m confident, hopeful that Netanyahu can make this call. I was told by Netanyahu’s office that he would get involved. I can’t imagine Netanyahu not making an effective call. I can’t imagine Trump refusing.”

In May 2019, Pollard criticized the Israeli government for not doing enough to help him move to Israel since his release from prison in an interview with Israeli media.
“If I didn’t believe in Hashem I’d be very depressed right now,” he told Channel 12 News.

Jonathan Pollard served 30 years in prison for spying on the United States for Israel. He was the only American ever sentenced to life in prison for spying on an ally. He was freed on November 20, 2015 according to laws in effect at the time of his sentencing that prisoners serving life sentences can be paroled after 30 years if they didn’t violate any significant prison regulations and if there was a “reasonable probability” the prisoner would not repeat his crime.

However, Pollard was released under strict parole conditions requiring him to maintain a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m curfew and be monitored by a GPS at all times. His computer use is also monitored. He was also given a five-year probation period during which he is banned from traveling outside the United States.