Pollard: “I Am Looking Forward to Being Reunited with My Wife”

“I am looking forward to being reunited with my beloved wife Esther,” Jonathan Pollard said today through his attorneys, reports the Jerusalem Post.

Pollard was reacting to the news that the US Parole Commission announced that he will be released from prison after serving 30 years of a life sentence on November 20.

“I would like to thank the many thousands of well-wishers in the United States, in Israel, and throughout the world, who provided grass roots support by attending rallies, sending letters, making phone calls to elected officials, and saying prayers for my welfare. I am deeply appreciative of every gesture, large or small,” said Pollard, according to his lawyers,  Elliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman.

The attorneys have been told that Pollard must remain in the US for five years under the parole ruling but that President Barack Obama has the power to allow him to move to Israel sooner by commuting his sentence to time served.

“We are grateful and delighted that our client will soon be released,” the lawyers said in an official statement, according to the Post. “The decision to grant parole was made unanimously by the three members of the Parole Commission, who make their decisions independently of any other US government agency. The decision is not connected to recent developments in the Middle East.”

His parole hearing took place July 7 at the Federal Correctional Center in Butner, North Carolina, where he has been incarcerated.

{Gavriel Sitrit-Matzav.com Newscenter}