Esther Pollard 'counting the minutes' to release of spy husband

After meeting with PM, Jonathan Pollard’s wife celebrates end of 30-year prison ‘nightmare,’ asks for ‘quiet and privacy’

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Esther Pollard, the wife of the Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, met Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told her that Israel is “waiting for his release” in November after 30 years in prison in the US.

“I can hardly wait,” Esther Pollard said, choking back tears. “I’m counting the days, the hours, the minutes, the seconds until I can take him into my arms and we can close the door on the past behind us, to begin to heal and to rebuild our lives.”

Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence analyst, was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison for passing classified documents to Israel. The US granted him parole from his life sentence and set his release for November 21.

At a press conference in Jerusalem after her meeting with Netanyahu, Esther Pollard reacted publicly for the first time to news of her husband’s long-awaited release, thanking all those “who helped us and supported us all along this difficult path.

“Jonathan will have served his punishment until the last moment this coming November, and I am excited and filled with gratitude and happiness that our experience and our nightmare is over,” she told reporters in Hebrew, adding that she hoped the public would allow the couple the “quiet and privacy” needed to rebuild their lives.

Efi Lahav, head of the Pollard campaign, arrives to deliver a statement to the media in the name of the Pollard family outside the Pollard family home in Jerusalem on July 28, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a statement earlier on Wednesday, Netanyahu celebrated Pollard’s release “after decades of effort.

“Throughout his time in prison, I consistently raised the issue of his release in my meetings and conversations with the leadership of successive US administrations,” he said in a statement.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s deputy foreign minister said Wednesday that Israel has been making “very great efforts” to lobby for Pollard to be granted permission to travel to Israel after his release.

Tsipi Hotovely told Army Radio that Israel has a moral responsibility to push for Pollard to come to the country. Pollard received Israeli citizenship while in prison.

It is unclear whether the conditions of Pollard’s parole will restrict him from traveling abroad. Israeli media reported that Pollard would not be permitted to travel abroad for five years after his release.