Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard set to be released from prison in November

Convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard will be released from prison in November, his attorneys said on Tuesday.

“We are grateful and delighted that our client will be released soon,” said a statement from Pollard’s lawyers, Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman.

The former US naval intelligence analyst was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 after pleading guilty to handing thousands of classified documents to Israel. In particular, Pollard handed over information about Soviet arms shipments to Arab countries and details of Iraqi and Syrian chemical weapons programs. He was arrested by FBI agents in Washington in 1985 after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli embassy in Washington. He pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents to Israel and received a life sentence. Barack Obama and his predecessors have refused to release Pollard despite pleas from Israeli leaders.

His continued imprisonment has long been an issue in US-Israeli relations. The Israeli government has long called for his release and sympathizers in the US have argued that Pollard received an overly harsh sentence considering that he was spying on behalf of a US ally. However, many in the intelligence and national security community have long pressed to keep Pollard in jail.

Intelligence officials have argued that his release would harm national security and that the US must maintain a strong deterrent to allies by warning them of the consequences of spying on American soil. On Monday, former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld tweeted his opposition to Pollard’s release.

Pollard’s scheduled release comes after he has served 30 years in prison and was eligible for mandatory parole. However, while the Justice Department could seek to keep the convicted spy in prison, reports indicate that the US government will accede to his release.

Although Pollard was sentenced to life imprisonment, the minimum sentence requirement laid down by the judge at the time meant – as long as there were no behaviour issues in prison – the maximum period he was expected to spend in jail would run out on the weekend of 21 November.

Indeed, the only reason that Pollard is being released a day earlier is because the 21st falls on a Saturday.

“The Department of Justice has always maintained that Jonathan Pollard should serve his full sentence for the serious crimes he committed, which in this case is a 30-year sentence, as mandated by statute, ending Nov. 21, 2015,” the DoJ said in a statement.

Israeli campaigners and their US allies had been hoping the Obama administration would grant Pollard clemency ahead of his release date to allow him to travel to Israel which had granted him citizenship after acknowledging that he had spied for them.

Instead the opposite has happened with the parole board ruling that the Israeli spy must remain in the US for five years after his release. Given Pollard’s recent ill health that suggests he is unlikely to travel to Israel unless the next US president gives him permission.

While in prison, Pollard’s health has deteriorated, leading him to need surgery in March 2014 due to the malfunctioning of his kidneys, gall bladder and intestines. He was most recently hospitalized last December after losing consciousness.

There was little surprise about the decision to parole Pollard in Israel.

Among the first Israeli ministers to confirm the news that Pollard would be released was the rightwing justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, who expressed hope that Pollard would be allowed to board a plane to Israel as soon as possible.

The agriculture minister, Uri Ariel, added: “After 30 years too many, I bless Jonathan and his family on his upcoming release,” Ariel said. “I am waiting with love for him to land here.”

Nahman Shai an opposition MP and chairman of the Knesset lobby for Pollard’s release, insisted that there were no political considerations in Pollard’s release.

“Pollard is not a political card and the attempt to turn him into one and bind him to the Iran deal or the release of Arab prisoners is ridiculous, embarrassing, and humiliating.

“The time has come to release Pollard. He has earned his freedom on right and not on sufferance. Thirty years in jail, more than any American prisoner for a similar offense. Pollard will be released, now.”

White House and other officials have adamantly denied that Pollard’s planned release is in any way tied to the Iran nuclear deal. And Israeli officials have said while they would welcome Pollard’s release, it would not ease their opposition to the Iran agreement.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, who testified before Congress on the deal on Tuesday, told reporters Pollard’s parole was “not at all” related to the nuclear deal.

The US has previously dangled his release, including during Israel-Palestinian talks last year, when the Obama administration considered the possibility of releasing Pollard early as part of a package of incentives to keep Israel at the negotiating table.

During his first term as prime minister he pressed the issue as part of a 1998 interim deal with the Palestinians. President Bill Clinton rejected that request after fierce opposition from US intelligence officials.

Also during Netanyahu’s first term in the late 1990s Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship. While Netanyahu was out of office he visited Pollard in prison. In 2011 Netanyahu formally appealed to the US for the release and made a personal plea to allow him to attend his father’s funeral. The US denied those requests.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.