An Israeli lawmaker is reportedly proposing the state of Israel pay convicted spy Jonathan Pollard a monthly stipend and pick up his medical expenses for the rest of his life once he's freed from prison in the United States.
Likud party legislator in Israel's Knesset, David Bitan, offered a bill that calls for a lifetime stipend for the controversial Pollard, who's served 30 years in prison for spying for Israel and is due to be released later this month,
Haaretz reports.
Under the bill, the state would grant Pollard a monthly pension, help pay his rent and finance any medical treatments he needs in a stipend that would be determined by the government, Haaretz reports.
"After everything that Pollard has gone through, and in light of his contribution to Israel, the state must ensure that he will live in dignity," Bitan said, Haaretz reports.
"The United States is our greatest friend, but on the matter of Pollard its decisions are not reasonable. It is certainly possible that there will be American pressure on Israel to freeze such a pension. In order to prevent foreign pressure we have to advance legislation, a step that will obligate the government to continue to transfer the money whatever happens."
It is undecided whether Pollard’s release will be marked officially in Israel.
"We were asked to keep a low profile in order to avoid saying anything unnecessary prior to his release," legislator Nachman Shai tells Haaretz. "After Pollard is released we’ll sit down and examine whether to continue helping him."
A release date for Pollard, 60, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer, was set last July by a federal parole board.
He's been in jail despite efforts by successive Israeli governments to secure his early release, and once freed, will be required to remain in the United States for five years under terms of his parole, his lawyers have said.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz called the jailing "a horrible scandal."
"He should've been let out 25 years ago," Dershowitz said at the time. "Nobody ever who has ever pleaded guilty to spying for an ally has ever gotten double-digit sentences."
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