JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy analyst who served 30 years in prison for spying for Israel, arrived in the country early on Wednesday after parole restrictions on his travel expired, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported.
Pollard, 66, had long voiced a desire to emigrate to Israel, which granted him citizenship. The espionage affair strained U.S.-Israel relations for decades.
Sentenced in 1987 to life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage, Pollard was freed on parole in 2015. A U.S. Justice Department decision last month to let the parole terms’ five-year travel ban go unrenewed was seen by some as a parting gift to Israel by the Trump administration.
Israeli officials did not immediately comment on the Israel Hayom report, which said Pollard and his wife Esther flew to Tel Aviv aboard a private plane due to her medical condition.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Stephen Coates)
