TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The lengthy imprisonment of American Jewish spy Jonathan Pollard smacks of anti-Semitism, a member of the Israeli Parliament charged.
Directing his remarks to U.S. President Obama, Moshe Feiglin of the Likud Beytenu party said, "It doesn't look good that only the Jew is still in jail after so many years," Israeli broadcasting network Arutz Sheva reported Monday.
Feiglin called for Pollard's release as he spoke to a crowd of about 1,000 during a rally Sunday night at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv.
Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty to passing information to Israel in 1987 and was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole.
Pollard's lengthy imprisonment was also criticized last month by Anti-Defamation League Chairman Abraham Foxman.
"Imprisonment of one person for so long who should have been released on humanitarian grounds symbolizes the American [government's] effort to scare the American Jewish community and are based on anti-Semitic myths about American Jewry," he said.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey has also called for Pollard's release. In a 2012 letter, he cited several examples of spies being released after 10 years, including Greek-American spy Steven Lalas.
