Jonathan Pollard has blamed Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and two other senior government officials for not being more forceful to pressure for his release from prison before immediate past United States President George W. Bush left office this week.
He fingered Livni as signing a "death warrant" for him by not exercising more pressure on the American government to free Pollard, who was sentenced to life imprisonment 24 years ago after being convicted of being an Israeli agent while working for the Pentagon.
Livni replied, "It is preferable that action to bring about Pollard's release be taken behind closed doors, even if it means allowing inaccuracies to be printed and my good name to be harmed."