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Activists seeking the spy's release were disappointed that Peres did not mention Pollard during his AIPAC address on Sunday, but the Israeli president reportedly told Esther Pollard that he had appealed to Obama to release her husband. "I hope he will be released," Peres added.
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Peres with US President Barack Obama (Photo: Moshe Milner, GPO)
(צילום: משה מילנר, לע"מ)
Peres with Obama at AIPAC conference (Photo: Moshe Milner, GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to raise the issue during his meeting with Obama at the White House on Monday.
Esther Pollard urged Obama to heed the calls of numerous senior American officials and the Israeli people
and release her husband immediately. Referring to Obama's announcement that Peres will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this spring, she said her husband's release would be "the real medal of freedom we are all waiting for."
Last week, Jewish organizations in the US began distributing a video clip in which former top US officials, including Henry Kissinger, George Shultz and former CIA director James Woolsey, called on the Obama administration to free Pollard.
Pollard, a United States Navy analyst convicted of passing information to Israel, has served 26 years of a life sentence.