--- description: President Obama is considering an early release for Pollard, an Israeli agent who spied on the U.S., to revive peace talks with Palestine. title: Jonathan Pollard: Bargaining Chip? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Who is Jonathan Pollard? And Why is He in Jail? by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 1, 2014 9:18 PM CUT by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 1, 2014 9:18 PM CUT He currently resides in a federal prison in Butner, N.C. Jonathan Pollard, 59, is a Jewish-American who passed American secrets to the Israelis while serving as a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst. In 1985, he was sentenced to life in prison—a sentence that many Israelis and some American Jews consider excessive, cruel and potentially tainted by anti-Semitism. Now the Obama administration is reportedly considering releasing Pollard from prison as an incentive to keep the Israelis in peace talks with the Palestinians. And so a convicted spy who many Americans have never heard of is back in the headlines because the Mideast peace process is, again, on a precipice. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/46017/why-jonathan-pollard-might-be-released/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/46017/why-jonathan-pollard-might-be-released/"},"headline":"Who is Jonathan Pollard? And Why is He in Jail?","datePublished":"2014-04-01T21:18:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:05:00.255Z","description":"Should the only American convicted of espionage and sentenced to life in prison be released?","url":"https://time.com/46017/why-jonathan-pollard-might-be-released/","keywords":["Barack Obama","Israel","Gaza and the West Bank","intelligence","spy","espionage"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/46017/why-jonathan-pollard-might-be-released/","name":"Who is Jonathan Pollard? And Why is He in Jail?"}}]}] ```