David Durenberger, a Republican U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1978-95 and the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence when Jonathan Pollard was convicted of passing classified information to Israel, in a recent letter to President Barack Obama called Pollard’s life sentence “uncalled for.”
Pollard, now in his 29th year in prison, is the only person in U.S. history to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally.
“Of course Pollard broke the law and his conviction was deserved,” Durenberger wrote. “But the harshness of his sentence, in light of existing relations between our countries and the nature of our observation of implicit agreements between the countries, was uncalled for.”
The New York Jewish Week brings you the stories behind the headlines, keeping you connected to Jewish life in New York. Help sustain the reporting you trust by donating today.
