JERUSALEM (AP) – Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in US jail for spying for Israel, arrived in Israel with his wife early Wednesday and triumphantly kissed the ground as he left the plane at the height of a decades-long relationship that lasted long strained relationships between the two close allies.
“We are in ecstasy to finally be home after 35 years,” Pollard said when greeted at Israel International Airport by Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader handed over Pollard and his wife Esther jubilantly with Israeli ID cards and thus granted citizenship.
“You are home,” Netanyahu said, thanking a Hebrew thank you. ‘What a moment. What a moment. ‘
Pollard arrived on a private plane by US casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire supporter of Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.
Pollard, 66, and his wife were walking slowly down the stairs as they left the plane. Pollard sank to his knees and kissed the ground as his wife put her hand on his back with Netanyahu standing in the darkness. Esther Pollard, who is struggling with cancer, then kissed the ground and was helped up by her husband.
Pollard thanked Netanyahu and the Jewish people for their support. “We hope to become productive citizens as soon and as quickly as possible and get on with our lives here,” he said.
Pollard, a U.S. Navy civilian intelligence analyst, sold military secrets to Israel while working for the Pentagon in the 1980s. He was arrested in 1985 after unsuccessfully trying to obtain asylum at the Israeli embassy in Washington and pleading guilty. The espionage affair embarrassed Israel and affected its relations with the United States for years.
Pollard was sentenced to life in prison and U.S. defense and intelligence officials have consistently pleaded against his release. After serving thirty years in federal prison, he was released on November 20, 2015 and was placed on a five-year parole period that ended in November. This paved the way for him to leave the US
The arrival of Pollard was first reported by Israel Hayom, a newspaper owned by Adelson. The newspaper published photos of Pollard and his wife, both wearing masks, on a private plane that arrived early Wednesday from Newark, New Jersey. It is said that the private flight is necessary due to the medical needs of Esther Pollard. The newspaper’s editor, Boaz Bismuth, calls it ‘the most exciting day’ of his four-decade journalistic career.
Photos of the plane with the Pollards match the color scheme of planes owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., the hotel and casino business owned by Adelson. Flight detection data showed that a Boeing 737 owned by the company, tail number N108MS, left Newark for Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv.
Effi Lahav, head of an activist group that campaigned for Pollard’s release from prison, said Pollard was flown on a ‘top secret’ mission overnight. “The fact that Esther and Jonathan arrived here in Israel makes us very excited,” he told the army radio station.
The Ynet website said the couple is in quarantine, which is mandatory for all returning Israelis as a measure to protect against the spread of the coronavirus. The country has prevented the arrival of all tourists, but it seems to welcome the couple as Israelites.
Pollard’s release was the latest in a long line of diplomatic gifts President Donald Trump has given to Netanyahu. His arrival in Israel gives the afflicted Netanyahu a welcome boost as he fights for re-election in the 23rd parliamentary elections.
Netanyahu was one of Trump’s closest allies on the international stage. Over the past four years, Trump has recognized the disputed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the U.S. embassy to the holy city. In other deviations from traditional American positions, Trump also acknowledged the annexation of Israel from the Golan Heights, saying that the settlements of the Israeli West Bank are not illegal and mediate a series of diplomatic agreements between Israel and Arab countries.