Peretz to PM: 'Bring Pollard to Israel'

Arutz Sheva/Israel National News - September 22, 2019

Education Minister urges PM to raise Jonathan Pollard's parole conditions with Trump, push for former spy to be allowed to move to Israel.

Education Minister Rafi Peretz (Yamina) urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to raise the issue of Jonathan Pollard's parole conditions with President Donald Trump, in the hopes of bringing the convicted spy to Israel.

Peretz wrote Sunday afternoon that during his meeting with Netanyahu, he called on the prime minister to discuss the possibility of Pollard being permitted to leave the US with Trump.

"I just left my meeting with the prime minister," Peretz wrote in a social media post Sunday. "Aside from the major issues on the agenda, I also asked that he request that US President Donald Trump permit Jonathan Pollard to immigrate to Israel before the Rosh Hashannah holiday."

"This is such a basic request and we'd expect a friend of Israel like Trump to respond to it. For the sake of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, the last week of the [Hebrew] year is the best time."

Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, was arrested in 1985, after the FBI found evidence suggesting Pollard was passing on sensitive material to an Israeli agent.

In a plea bargain agreement, Pollard was convicted in 1987, and given a life sentence.

The former spy was paroled in 2015, but barred from leaving New York for five years.

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