Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in US prison for spying for Israel, arrived in Israel early Wednesday with his wife, triumphantly kissing the ground as he exited the aircraft in the culmination of a decades-long affair that had long strained relations between the two close allies.
Pollard was welcomed at Israel’s international airport by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who presented him and his wife Esther with Israeli ID cards granting them citizenship.
“Welcome back. How good you’ve come home,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement issued by his office. He said they could start new lives in Israel, “in freedom and happiness.” “We are ecstatic to be home at last,” said Pollard.
The statement also quoted Pollard as saying he was “very excited to be home” after a 35-year ordeal. He thanked Netanyahu and the Jewish people for supporting him.
A video released by Netanyahu’s office showed Pollard walking down the stairs of the plane and kissing the ground.
Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy, sold military secrets to Israel while working at the Pentagon in the 1980s. He was arrested in 1985 after trying unsuccessfully to gain asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and pleaded guilty. The espionage affair embarrassed Israel and tarnished its relations with the United States for years.
Pollard was given a life sentence and U.S. Defense and intelligence officials consistently argued against releasing Pollard.
