Report: Trump to Release Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard to Israel to Aid Netanyahu’s Re-election

‘President Trump is allegedly set to release Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard to Israel in the coming weeks to aid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election campaign.

President Obama first released Pollard from prison in 2015 to soften the blow of the Iran nuclear deal but insisted he not be allowed to travel to Israel.

From Times of Israel, “Likud source: Jonathan Pollard will be brought to Israel before election”:

After the unveiling of the Trump peace plan and the expected imminent release of Israeli-American backpacker Naama Issachar from Russian prison, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could soon pull another rabbit out of his hat, ahead of the Knesset elections: bringing Jonathan Pollard to Israel.

A source in Netanyahu’s Likud party has told Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, that Netanyahu is aiming to have the former spy land on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport a week before the March 2 vote.

Pollard, who served 30 years in prison for providing sensitive intelligence to Israel, made a public appeal to Netanyahu in August and asked him to intervene on his behalf to urge US President Donald Trump to commute his parole, so he could care for his sick wife.

Netanyahu attempted to blackmail President Bill Clinton with racy Monica Lewinsky tapes to get Pollard released according to Daniel Halper’s 2014 book, “Clinton Inc: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.”