Netanyahu asks US to release agent Pollard

Jonathan Pollard, the American convicted of spying for Israel, leaves a New York court house following his release from prison early on Friday after 30 years on November 20, 2015 in New York, New York [Spencer Platt/Getty Images]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated his country’s calls for the United States to release a Jewish agent held in an American jail, saying that the agent’s life was in danger after 30 years of imprisonment.

In a phone conversation this evening with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Netanyahu called for releasing Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli Premier’s spokesman Ofir Gendleman said.

“Pollard’s life is in danger,” Gendleman quoted on his Twitter account Netanyahu as telling Kerry during the phone conversation.

“After 30 years, it is time for him to be released and live the rest of his life as a free man,” he added.

Pollard, a former civil intelligence analyst at the US navy, was convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced for life in 1986.

He has been in American jail ever since, even as Israel continues to demand his release.

Netanyahu had repeatedly expressed hopes that his calls for releasing Pollard would be headed by the US.

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