Israel calls for release of ailing Pollard

JERSUALEM, Israel, April 8 (UPI) -- Israel's prime minister Sunday called on the United States to release ailing spy Jonathan Pollard from prison.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the time had come to allow Pollard, who was hospitalized over the weekend, to go home after 27 years in prison.

"The Jewish holiday of freedom should become Pollard's private holiday of freedom," Netanyahu said."I will continue working toward his release."

President Shimon Peres joined Netanyahu Sunday after meeting with Pollard's wife, Esther, in Jerusalem. Peres said he would also urge U.S. President Barak Obama to free Pollard due to his medical condition, Haaretz said.

Pollard was sentenced to life in prison for passing sensitive U.S. material to the Israelis in the 1980s while working as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy. The native-born Texan was granted Israeli citizenship in 1995 and would be deported to Israel if released, The Jerusalem Post said.

Pollard, 57, has been in poor health and was hospitalized in North Carolina over the weekend for pain of unknown origin. His condition was not clear; however, Esther Pollard told reporters in Jerusalem she did "not want to be the widow of Jonathan Pollard."

"Sending him back to prison would be a death sentence," she said.