While Israel releases imprisoned terrorists as a series of “good will gestures” in successive rounds of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, one of her own has been sitting in a US jail for over twenty five years.  In the wake of the recent revelation of US espionage on Israeli officials, Israeli ministers have exerted pressure to have his release included in the current round of talks.

Jonathan Pollard, a US citizen, was charged with spying for Israel, an American ally, and jailed for life in 1987 for handing over sensitive documents to Israel, documents that should have been released to Israel in the first place.  Every US president since has refused to pardon him.  He was also accused of handing information to other states, not all of them allies, as well as using sensitive information for personal gain.  Israel initially denied that Pollard was an agent, but granted him citizenship in 1995 and admitted in 1998 that he had supplied the government with classified information.

Now that whistleblower Edward Snowden has brought to light the US’s own espionage against allies, including Israel, Israeli MKs and Pollard supporters have been pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to include Pollard’s release in the negotiation process.

According to documents leaked by Snowden Friday, in 2009, the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ tracked security emails relayed to an address thought to have belonged to then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

“In the close ties between Israel and the United States, there are things that must not be done and that are not acceptable to us,” Netanyahu said, speaking during a Likud party faction meeting.

Unidentified Israeli officials explained that Pollard’s release could be included in the negotiations in one of two ways, as part of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement pushed by the Americans for next month, or through a deal aimed at releasing Arab-Israeli prisoners.