Israeli spy Pollard freed from U.S. prison after 30 years

[garbon]

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-spy-pollard-set-free-u-prison-israeli-094917822.html

Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was released on parole on Friday after 30 years in a U.S. prison, Israeli and U.S. officials said, in a case that seriously strained relations between the close allies.

The former U.S. Navy analyst early Friday morning left a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, about 45 miles north of Raleigh, said Edmond Ross, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

"The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "After three long and difficult decades, Jonathan has been reunited with his family."

Under the terms of his parole, Pollard must remain in the United States for five years.

He was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 1987 of passing reams of classified information to Israel. Now 61, Pollard has said he wants to immigrate to Israel, where his second wife lives and where he can expect to receive substantial Israeli government back pay.

Pollard, a Jewish-American, was granted Israeli citizenship while in prison.

"This is a dramatic moment ... This is a historic moment that brings to an end a tremendous effort that spanned many years," Effie Lahav, head of the committee in Israel that lobbied for Pollard's release, said on Army Radio.

Netanyahu has instructed Israelis to stay low key about Pollard's release because of concerns that too warm a celebration might damage efforts to persuade the U.S. government to let him leave for Israel sooner.

Successive U.S. administrations had resisted Israeli calls to show the unrepentant Pollard clemency, though Washington did, at times, mull an early release as part of its efforts to revive talks on Palestinian statehood in Israel-occupied territories.

Pollard's legal team has called on U.S. President Barack Obama to allow him to go to Israel immediately after his release, while noting that he has a job and a place to live in the United States.

A U.S. official said Obama did not have any plans to alter the terms of his parole to allow Pollard leave the United States.

[garbon]

And yahoo news has already changed the article.

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-spy-pollard-set-free-u-prison-israeli-094917822.html

Israeli spy Pollard freed from US prison; lawyers challenge parole

Lawyers for Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, released on Friday after 30 years in a U.S. prison, said the conditions of his parole are unreasonable and illegal and should be vacated by a federal court.

The former U.S. Navy analyst left a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, about 45 miles north of Raleigh, early Friday morning, said Edmond Ross, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

According to Pollard's lawyers, he will be required to wear an electronic bracelet so his movements can be monitored at all times. Also, his computers and those of any employer who hires him will be subjected to "unfettered monitoring and inspection."

The lawyers called the conditions "onerous and oppressive" in a statement announcing their legal challenge in a federal court in New York on Friday.

"There is no basis whatsoever to treat Mr. Pollard in that manner, and doing so is vindictive and cruel, as well as unlawful," lawyers Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman said.

His lawyers filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court in New York against the U.S. Parole Commission and the U.S. Probation Office for the Southern District of New York. The petition claims that "unlawful parole conditions were imposed by the Parole Commission."

Pollard's case has strained relations between Israel and the United States, two close allies.

He was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 1987 of passing reams of classified information to Israel. Now 61, Pollard has said he wants to emigrate to Israel, where his second wife lives and where he can expect to receive substantial Israeli government back pay.

"The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "After three long and difficult decades, Jonathan has been reunited with his family."

Pollard, a Jewish-American, was granted Israeli citizenship while in prison. Under the terms of his parole, he must remain in the United States for five years.

Netanyahu has instructed Israelis to stay low key about Pollard's release because of concerns that too warm a celebration might damage efforts to persuade the U.S. government to let him leave for Israel sooner.

Successive U.S. administrations had resisted Israeli calls to show the unrepentant Pollard clemency, though Washington did, at times, mull an early release as part of its efforts to revive talks on Palestinian statehood in Israel-occupied territories.

Pollard's legal team has called on U.S. President Barack Obama to allow him to go to Israel immediately after his release, while noting that he has a job and a place to live in the United States.

A U.S. official said Obama did not have any plans to alter the terms of his parole to allow Pollard leave the United States.

[grumbler]

It has always astonished me that Israelis are so tone-deaf on the Pollard case.  Yes, I understand that they feel bad that the guy they bought got caught, but to insist that the US showed bad faith towards Israel by keeping a US citizen who had committed very serious crimes against the United States in prison is absolutely absurd.  I can understand the Israeli government's trying to get their agent out, because it hurts their recruitment of other spies in the US to have him as an example of what can happen to those spies, but bringing it up repeatedly and publicly just drives home the point that Israel is an American ally, not an American "friend" as some like to claim.  Of course, nations don't actually have friends, but most people in the US don't realize this and the Israelis have every interest in keeping them from realizing this.

[Admiral Yi]

Pollard has said he wants to immigrate to Israel, where his second wife lives and where he can expect to receive substantial Israeli government back pay.

[Razgovory]

Well Siege will be happy.  I wonder how the House Republicans who invited Netanyahu over for a chat view this.

[grumbler]

Pollard has said he wants to immigrate to Israel, where his second wife lives and where he can expect to receive substantial Israeli government back pay.

Israel is smart to continue to nominally pay the traitors they have bought after said traitors are jailed.  Helps with recruitment of other spies in the US.  This is one of the disadvantages of not shooting Pollard when they had the chance.

[DGuller]

Pollard has said he wants to immigrate to Israel, where his second wife lives and where he can expect to receive substantial Israeli government back pay.

I'm sure it's covered by workers comp policy.

[The Brain]

The US bending over and getting fucked by Israel... I can't shake the image of a tiny dog and a big bitch.

[Eddie Teach]

I'm sure we have Swedish spies in our government too. And vice versa.

[The Brain]

I'm sure we have Swedish spies in our government too.

Goy?