Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sent on Tuesday a letter to President Barack Obama asking that he releases Jonathan Pollard, who was spying on Israel’s best ally, the United States, and was sentenced in 1987 to life in prison.Israeli Daily, Haaretz, reported that Pollard is currently imprisoned a Federal Prison in North Carolina.
The Israeli Prime Minister read the letter to his cabinet while addressing the Knesset on Tuesday evening,
He still insisted that Israel did not, and will not, send spies to the United States, adding that the actions of the U.S are unacceptable and wrong.
Netanyahu added that Pollard must be released due to humanitarian reasons.
The State Department in Washington confirmed it received Netanyahu’s letter adding that it is under review.
In a statement issued December 21, 2010, Netanyahu said that Israel has the moral obligation to secure the release of Pollard.
His decision to send a letter Obama came after a meeting with the wife of Pollard, Esther, and following his meeting with Lawrence Korb, who served as the assistant Secretary of Defense, in Washington, when Pollard was apprehended.
U.S. State Department spokesperson, Philip Crowley, said that Pollard will not be released.
Crowley added that Netanyahu has repeatedly demanded Washington to release the spy, but the official stance of the White House is that Pollard will remain in prison.
Pollard was born in Texas Sate on August 7, 1954; he worked as a civilian intelligence analyst before he was convicted of spying for Israel. In 1987, Pollard was sentenced to a life term.
Pollard was granted an Israeli Citizenship in 1995, yet Israel kept denying he is a spy until admitting to the fact in 1998.
In 2002, Netanyahu visited Pollard in prison and made numerous calls for his release since then.
Haaretz said that Pollard’s case was later on linked to the case of, Ben-Ami Kadish, an American-Israeli who pleaded guilty for working as a spy, and for passing classified information to Tel Aviv.
