Israel Spy Complains He's Abandoned

February 15, 1998 - The Washington Post

Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel, says Israel hasn't done enough to secure his release from American prison.

"I have earnestly hoped and prayed that the Israeli government would act for my immediate release. ... But it has not happened," Pollard complained in a letter to Israeli Labor Minister Eliyahu Yishai. The letter was made public Sunday.

"If the Israeli government acted with proper diligence, I would have been freed already," Pollard said.

Pollard asked Yishai to visit him during an upcoming visit to the United States.

"It is critically important that I see you at the earliest possible opportunity," he wrote.

Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for giving Israel secret information he learned while working as a Navy intelligence analyst. He was arrested in 1985.