Jonathan Pollard, Cold War Spy Who Spent 30 Years In U.S. Prison, Arrives In Israel

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Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, left, with his lawyer, Eliot Lauer, leaves federal court in New York following a 2016 hearing. The former U.S. Navy analyst who spent three decades in prison after pleading guilty to spying for Israel, has arrived in Israel a month after the Justice Department allowed his parole to expire.

Larry Neumeister/AP

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Larry Neumeister/AP

The Two-Way
U.S. Releases Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard After 30-Year Prison Term

«The Navy program was really shaken by what he had done right under their noses,» Jim Townsend, a former senior Pentagon official who joined Navy intelligence as a reservist around the Pollard was arrested, was quoted by The New York Times as saying.

National Security
Jonathan Pollard, Who Sold Cold War Secrets To Israel, Completes Parole

At the time of his release from federal prison in Butner, N.C., in 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: «As someone who raised Jonathan’s case for years with successive American presidents, I had long hoped this day would come.»

Last month, five years after his release, the Justice Department allowed Pollard’s parole to expire, freeing him to travel to Israel.

The Justice Department’s move to end Pollard’s parole is widely seen as a parting gift from President Trump to Netanyahu, who had enjoyed close relations, as Trump readies to leave office next month. Pollard’s arrival in Israel could give Netanyahu, who is in a bitter reelection battle, a political boost.

• Jonathan Pollard
• Israel