JERUSALEM, June 19 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says he will ask the U.S. government to let Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard attend his father's funeral in Indiana.
Netanyahu made the comments to ministers ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, Haaretz reported.
Morris Pollard died Saturday in South Bend, Ind., at age 95.
"I know the prime minister worked hard for the past week in order to get permission for Pollard to get out and see his sick father," Ynetnews.com quoted Minister Limor Livnat saying.
"Unfortunately the request was not granted and now that his father has passed away a special effort is being made to allow him to attend the funeral. I really hope the U.S. administration shows minimal humanity in order to let him out of prison after 26 years to be at the funeral," she said.
The U.S. government earlier failed to respond to a request submitted by activists on Pollard's behalf, asking that he be allowed to visit his dying father.
The funeral service for Pollard, an award-winning microbiologist, will be conducted at the chapel at the Hebrew Orthodox Cemetery in South Bend Monday, The South Bend (Ind.) Tribune reported.
Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. Navy analyst, was sentenced to life imprisonment on March 4, 1987 for passing highly classified U.S. intelligence to Israel in 1984 and 1985.
