With the permission of her parole officer in New York, Anne Henderson Pollard, divorced wife of Jonathan Pollard, acquired Israeli citizenship Monday and was granted immigrant status by the Interior Ministry.
She told reporters she planned to join the Likud party.
Pollard came to Israel in August 1990 after being paroled from federal prison, where she served 40 months of a five-year sentence for aiding her ex-husband’s espionage activities.
Jonathan Pollard is serving a life term at the federal prison in Marion, Ill. He was sentenced in March 1987 after confessing that he passed secret information to Israel when he was a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy analyzing intelligence data.
Faced with imminent arrest, both Pollards had sought asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington but were not admitted.
Anne Pollard was sentenced to two five-year terms to run concurrently. She suffered from a debilitating intestinal disorder and spent most of her time in prison hospitals.
Although her physical condition apparently improved after release from prison, Pollard became involved in an angry dispute with Israeli authorities when she was confined to a psychiatric hospital at Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv–according to her, against her will.
Health Ministry officials insist she committed herself voluntarily. A Tel Aviv district psychiatric committee ordered her release.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
