Former Spy Jonathan Pollard Arrives in Tel Aviv 35 Years After Arrest

Jonathan Pollard, a Jewish American jailed in the US in 1985 for spying for Israel, landed with his wife, Esther, at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel on Wednesday, where he was received by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In 1984, Pollard, an intelligence analyst for the US Navy, offered to provide Israel with classified information that, he said, should have been provided according to cooperation agreements but was being inappropriately withheld by the US. After he came under suspicion by co-workers in 1985 and an investigation was begun, Pollard tried to gain asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, was turned away by guards, and arrested by FBI agents. In a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty for violations of the Espionage Act and was sentenced to life in prison – the only American to receive such a harsh sentence for passing classified information to an ally. After serving 30 years in prison, he was granted parole in 2015. The terms of his parole, which confined him to the US, expired in November 2020.