Ex-spy Pollard accuses Israel of not helping him

American spy Jonathan Pollard, who was jailed for decades for selling American secrets to Israel, has criticised Tel Aviv for failing to help him move to Israel.

“To make me a priority would mean that the government actually cared and said ‘this is what we want, we want him to come home’. That simply hasn’t been done,” Pollard said in a rare interview with Israel’s Channel 12.

Pollard slammed the Israeli government “for wasting several opportunities” to discuss his case with US President Donald Trump or his predecessor, Barack Obama.

The 64-year-old was released in November 2015 after serving 30 years in prison for passing sensitive security information to Israel while working as an analyst with the US Navy Intelligence Service.

READ: Convicted Israeli spy Pollard loses bid to relax US parole conditions

Under the terms of his release, Pollard cannot leave the United States for five years, which prevents him from moving to Israel.

Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship in 1995, but said he had no contact with any official there, but the Israeli government confirmed that it was still “determined to ensure that he returned to Israel”.

According to CIA documents declassified in 2012, the Israeli raid on the Palestine Liberation Organisation headquarters in Tunis in 1985 that killed 60 people was planned based on information gathered by Pollard.

READ: US releases Israeli spy after 30 years in prison