Israeli envoy hands White House request to ease Pollard restrictions
Letter to Obama from paroled spy’s wife asks for lifting of severe limitations on Jonathan Pollard’s movements
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Israel’s ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer passed a letter to the White House last week asking to ease the condition of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard’s release.
Pollard was released on November 20 after serving 30 years of a life term in prison for spying on the US in the 1980s.
Under the rules of his parole, he has a 7 p.m. curfew, is required to wear an ankle monitor at all times and has his computer and phone use tracked by parole officials. He is also forbidden from leaving US soil for five years after his release, despite expressing a desire to move to Israel with his wife Esther, and must obtain permission to leave the state of New York.
On Monday, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered the US Parole Commission to more fully explain the reasons for these restrictions after Pollard’s lawyers argued they were unjustified and onerous, The New York Times reported.
According to a Haaretz report on Tuesday, Dermer handed White House officials a letter from Esther Pollard asking that President Barack Obama intervene to ease the Parole Commission’s restrictions.
Citing senior Israeli officials, Haaretz said Dermer asked White House officials to show the letter to US President Barack Obama, but it was not clear if Obama had seen it.
A White House official told the daily that Obama had no intention of intervening in Pollard’s release conditions.
The Times of Israel Community.