Peres in U.S. will press for Pollard’s release
June 10, 2012
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/06/10/3097791/peres-in-us-will-press-for-pollards-release

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres, in the U.S. to receive
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, will press President Obama and other
American officials to release Jonathan Pollard.

Peres, who will meet with American officials ahead of the medal's
presentation at the White House on Wednesday, is carrying a petition signed
by some 70,000 Israelis calling for Pollard's release.

Pollard, a civilian U.S. Navy analyst, has been serving a life sentence for
spying for Israel. He has been in ill health and hospitalized several times
in recent months.

The petition began circulating two months ago, but in recent days it was
signed by former Israeli President Yitzhak Navon, who will attend the medal
ceremony; left-wing Israeli authors Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B.
Yehoshua; and Nobel Prize laureates Dan Shechtman and Aaron Ciechanover.
Former captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit signed the petition in April.

Pollard has been at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North
Carolina since 1986.