(JNi.media) On Friday the US will end the ugliest chapter in its relations with the Jewish State, by releasing convicted spy Jonathan Pollard after 30 years in prison. No spy from a friendly country has ever spent this long behind bars in America. A man who shipped containers of secret documents regarding the US stealth bomber program to Iran recently received an 8-year sentence, which, presumably, he will be done with in 6.
Pollard, 61, a Jew from Texas, was punished for Israel’s sins, and his imprisonment has tainted the relationship between these close allies for three decades. Pollard passed US secrets to Israel which have lost their sting back in the very early 1990s—but he did not merit a presidential pardon. He was also fooled into a plea bargain: Pollard pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government—in exchange for a much shorter sentence, but the Judge Aubry E. Robinson Jr. ignored the plea deal and sentenced Pollard to life in prison.
The former Navy intelligence analyst is walking through his Butner, North Carolina, prison doors Friday, one day short of 30 years after his arrest on November 21, 1985. He has been paroled.
According to The Telegraph, Jonathan Pollard would like nothing more than to renounce his citizenship and make Aliyah to Israel. He’s been a citizen there since 1995. He’s probably entitled to a hefty pension from a government that left him all alone that one night in 1985, banging on the doors of the Israeli embassy, begging for shelter.
One US Congressman has told The Telegraph it would cause a “circus” if Pollard were forced to remain in the US to undergo a very vindictive, 5-year parole period, as the law requires. Pollard’s attorneys say he should be allowed to move to Israel, where his wife lives.
Two Jewish Congressmen from NY, Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Eliot Engel, have written US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, asking her to give Pollard a break: “Mr. Pollard understands that, as a condition of being permitted to move to Israel, he may need to renounce his American citizenship. Despite the serious consequences that may follow such a decision, including being permanently barred from returning to the United States, he is willing to undertake this extraordinary measure.”
They noted: “As you may know, there is recent precedent for Mr. Pollard’s request. In May of 2013, DOJ allowed René González, a member of the so-called ‘Cuban 5,’ to renounce his citizenship and live in Cuba. Mr. González served more than 8 years in prison for a 2001 espionage conviction for taking part in a spying ring on behalf of the Cuban government. While on probation, DOJ allowed Mr. González to attend his father’s funeral in Cuba. Despite DOJ’s prior insistence that he serve his entire probation in the United States, DOJ allowed Mr. González to renounce his American citizenship and remain in Cuba, on condition that he never return to the US. Similarly, Mr. Pollard asks that he be permitted to leave the United States and join his family in Israel. Mr. Pollard understands that this would likely mean that he would never be able to return.”
The two congressmen concluded: “We believe that America’s interests and the interests of justice would be served if DOJ were to grant Jonathan Pollard’s request to reunite with his wife and move to Israel upon his release. In its discussions of Mr. Pollard mandatory parole, DOJ has already acknowledged that there is no reasonable probability that he will commit any future crimes after his release. If DOJ allows him to leave the United States permanently, this would become a near-certainty. We respectfully ask that you give this request fair consideration.”