The Knesset's State Control Committee on Monday asked State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss to prepare a brief on the actions taken by the various Israeli governments over the years to advance the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard by the United States.
"After 22 years, it's about time we understand once and for all why an Israeli citizen and agent is still rotting away in prison," said committee chair MK Zevulun Orlev. "We must check to see where we failed and what the government can do to bring about his release.
Pollard was arrested in 1985 and later convicted of selling military secrets to Israel
while he worked at the Defense Department's Pentagon headquarters.
He is currently being held at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina.
Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel said the government was doing everything in its power to free Pollard, adding that "the public is not aware of all the actions being taken, some of which are classified."
Lindenstrauss said during the committee's meeting that he had received a number of letters from Pollard in which the spy asked that the Comptroller look into his case.
During the first few years of Pollard's incarceration the Israeli government refused to officially act for his release; this policy changed during the 1990s, mainly due to the ongoing public campaign led by Pollard's family and several public figures.
RSS
