Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the United States to allow convicted spy Jonathan Pollard to return immediately to Israel upon his upcoming release from a federal prison, Israeli media outlets repoted on Thursday.<br />Education Minister Naftali Bennett praised Pollard as a hero Thursday, even as Netanyahu instructed officials to keep quiet over the sensitive issue of the release.<br />Pollard's supporters, including many Israeli citizens, long maintained he provided information critical to Israel's security interests at a time when the country was under threat from its Middle East neighbors.<br />Although the decision from the US Parole Commission nearly coincided with a fierce disagreement between the US and the Israeli governments over a nuclear deal with Iran, officials from both countries denied the release was tied to that agreement, or was intended as a concession to Israel.<br />Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israel relations at Israel's Bar Ilan University, said that the quiet response in Jerusalem over Pollard's upcoming release was intentional.
