US Parole Commission terminates Pollard’s parole and ends the restrictions that were imposed on him, making him free to travel to Israel.
Elad Benari, Canada , Nov 20 , 2020
Attorneys for Jonathan Pollard said on Friday that the US Parole Commission has issued a certificate terminating parole and the restrictions that were imposed on him.
A such, Pollard “is free to travel anywhere, including Israel, for temporary or permanent residence, as he wishes,” said attorneys Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman.
Pollard expressed “appreciation and gratitude” to Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, for his help in bringing about the end to his parole.
When Pollard was released from prison in 2015 after serving 30 years of his life sentence for transmitting classified information to Israel, his parole commission imposed strict parole guidelines for a period of five years.
As part of those restrictions, Pollard was not allowed to leave his home between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., was monitored by a GPS device and was not permitted to leave the US. Friday marked the end of that five-year period.
It has been speculated that Pollard will move to Israel once the restrictions are lifted, though Rabbi Pesach Lerner, who has been Pollard’s rabbi for the past 25 years, said on Friday that no one really knows what will happen to Pollard in the future.
“He wants to come to Israel, but his wife is currently undergoing chemotherapy so even if he were permitted, he wouldn’t be able to leave right away. It’s going to take time,” Rabbi Lerner told Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) in an interview.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)