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U.S. NEWSSaturday 21 November 2015
Convicted spy Pollard
is released after 30
years behind bars
ERIC TUCKER ankle bracelet and submit Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard and his wife, Esther leave the federal courthouse in New York
DAVID B. CARUSO to inspections of his com- Friday, Nov. 20, 2015.
Associated Press puter at his home or at his
NEW YORK (AP) — Jona- job, which his lawyers said Associated Press
than Pollard was released will be in the finance de-
from prison Friday after 30 partment of a New York parole conditions. who visited Pollard twice gret for his actions, telling
years behind bars for spy- investment firm. Pollard was given a life sen- in prison, said that while The Associated Press in a
ing for Israel, his case a Pollard’s lawyers com- tence in 1987 for providing he believes Pollard broke 1998 interview that he did
longtime irritant in relations plained that wearing a large amounts of classified the law and deserved to not consider himself a hero.
between the two allies. His GPS monitor would be U.S. government informa- be punished, his sentence “There is nothing good that
lawyers immediately went harmful to his health be- tion to Israel. He was grant- was overly harsh. Like other came as a result of my ac-
to court to challenge pa- cause he has severe dia- ed parole over the summer. supporters, he said Pollard tions,” he said. “I tried to
role conditions that would betes and chronic swell- His was among the highest- was “double-crossed” into serve two countries at the
let the government track ing in his legs and ankles. profile spy sagas in modern thinking he would receive same time. That does not
his movements and moni- They said the computer American history, a case leniency in exchange for a work.”
tor his computer use. monitoring is unnecessary that became a diplomatic guilty plea. Last year, the U.S. dangled
The pre-dawn release from because he no longer sticking point. Supporters U.S. officials have said Pol- the prospect of freeing Pol-
a federal prison in Butner, possesses any useful clas- praised him for aiding an lard, over a series of months lard early as part of a pack-
North Carolina, gave Pol- sified information. ally, while critics called him and for a salary, provided age of incentives to keep
lard his long-sought free- His supporters, who have a traitor to his country. intelligence summaries and Israel at the negotiating
dom, but the legal and long maintained that he “I don’t think there’s any huge quantities of classified table during talks with the
diplomatic wrangling that was punished excessively doubt that the crime mer- documents on the capa- Palestinians. But the talks
has defined the case con- for actions taken on be- ited a life sentence, given bilities and programs of Is- fell apart, and Pollard re-
tinued. half of an American ally, the amount of damage rael’s enemies. He pleaded mained in prison.
Hours after he was driven are pressing President that Mr. Pollard did to guilty in 1986 to conspiracy The decision to grant him
away from the prison, Barack Obama’s admin- the United States govern- to commit espionage. parole came amid a pub-
the 61-year-old Pollard istration to permit him ment,” said Joseph diG- Israel initially claimed that lic disagreement between
checked in with proba- to move immediately to enova, who prosecuted Pollard was part of a rogue the U.S. and Israel over a
tion officers at a federal Israel despite parole re- the case as U.S. attorney in operation but acknowl- nuclear deal with Iran. But
courthouse in New York quirements that he remain Washington. “I would have edged him in the 1990s as U.S. officials have said the
City, then emerged into in the U.S. for at least five been perfectly pleased if an agent and granted him decision to let Pollard out
a throng of journalists. He years. Those supporters he had spent the rest of his citizenship. on parole had nothing to
wore loose-fitting khakis, a include Israeli Prime Minis- life in jail.” Although he has said his do with that deal and was
blue yarmulke and a slight ter Benjamin Netanyahu, Seymour Reich, a former guilty plea was coerced, not meant as a concession
smile. who applauded Pollard’s president of B’nai Brith he has also expressed re- for Israel.q
“I can’t comment on any- freedom.
thing today,” the Navy “The people of Israel wel-
intelligence analyst said, come the release of Jona-
his wife, Esther, on his arm. than Pollard,” Netanyahu
One of his lawyers and a said in a statement. “As
U.S. marshal, grasping Pol- someone who raised Jon-
lard firmly by the arm, es- athan’s case for years with
corted him through the successive American pres-
crowd of jostling photog- idents, I had long hoped
raphers to a car. this day would come.”
Within hours of his release, The White House renewed
Pollard’s attorneys filed its longstanding opposi-
court papers in New York tion to the request that
challenging his “onerous Pollard be allowed to
and oppressive” parole leave the country. Deputy
conditions. national security adviser
Those include a require- Ben Rhodes said Obama
ment that he wear a GPS has no plans to alter the
