Jonathan Pollard's US Navy head shot (photo credit: United States Navy)
Despite increasing calls from Israeli and former American officials to free convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday she expects him to serve out his life sentence.
Speaking at a press conference following her meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Clinton answered a reporter’s question on Pollard, saying, “there is no expectation this is going to change.”
Pollard’s activities and his subsequent harsh prison sentence have long been a bone of contention between Israel and the United States.
Jonathan Pollard’s U.S. Navy head shot (photo credit: United States Navy)
Pollard is a former US Navy analyst who has served 25 years of a life sentence in a North Carolina prison for spying on behalf of Israel. He is in ill health and has been hospitalized a number of times in the past year.
Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship in 1995. Three years later, the Israeli government publicly acknowledged that he had indeed spied on the US.
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While Israeli officials have long called on Washington to release him, former American officials, including former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former assistant defense secretary Lawrence Korb, have of late called for him to receive clemency.
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