Thirty years in prison United States For espionage
Hebrew NationJonathan Pollard, an American, arrived in Israel at midnight on Wednesday, where he was greeted by the Prime Minister.
Benjamin Netanyahu. “You are at home,” the head of state told the former spy and his wife, Esther, as they handed over their Israeli identity cards. Jonathan Pollard, a 66 – year – old U.S. Navy analyst, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for handing over classified documents.

He was released in November 2015 after being banned from leaving the United States for five years despite Israeli pressure to wear an electronic bracelet and respect a curfew. The U.S. Department of Justice lifted the conditions in November. In a video released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday morning, Jonathan Pollard and his wife board the flight to Benjamin Netanyahu.

National hero

One Israeli leader explains, “Thirty-five years later, he and his wife are happy to be home. We thank the people and the Israeli Prime Minister for bringing us home.” “We hope to become productive citizens as soon as possible and continue our lives here,” added one person who received Israeli citizenship in 1995.

Jonathan Pollard and his wife were traveling on a private plane owned by US billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Israeli journalist Itte Blumenthal said he arrived at the Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv just before 3am. Transportation by air. Their arrival feels like a milestone in Israel, where President Reuven Rivlin welcomed them on Twitter and the Airport Authority released a recording of their plane’s landing request.

Convicted in 1985

In the mid-1980s, Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew, came into contact with an Israeli colonel in New York and began sharing US secrets with the Jewish state for tens of thousands of dollars. He had revealed thousands of documents in total. He was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment two years after pleading guilty.

His case has long been a thorn in the side of the relationship between Washington and Israel. According to CIA records classified in 2012, Jonathan Pollard was deported to Tunisia in 1985 for allegedly aiding Israel in the bombing of the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) – an attack that killed more than 60 people – and the killing of two PIOs in Tunis in 1988.