Convicted spy Pollard sues Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Jonathan Pollard sued Israel Monday, claiming the country didn't help him or his family financially since he was jailed for spying nearly two dozen years ago.

During a hearing in the Tel Aviv District Court, lawyers for Pollard, convicted of spying for Israel and imprisoned in the United States, said that their client didn't file to receive compensation but to point out that Israel is "lying to the media, to the general public and to the court when it claims it supports Pollard and his wife in various ways, and supports them financially," The Jerusalem Post reported.

Pollard's attorneys in a news release said his previous lawsuit efforts to clarify Israel's claim of money transfers have been fruitless because the prime minister's office has rebuffed them.

Pollard, a former civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy, pleaded guilty in 1986 to providing military secrets to Israel while at the Pentagon. He is serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.

"If (Israel) has given even a shekel to Pollard or his wife -- then it should prove it," Pollard's lawyer, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, told the Post. "We know the truth, it will come out in court."