Youth of the leftist Meretz party called on President Shimon Peres, Monday, to work to advance the release of Jonathan Pollard, who has served 25 years of a life sentence for passing classified information from the United States to Israel. Peres left Israel Sunday evening for talks with United States President Barack Obama and said that he might discuss Pollard during those talks.
Describing Peres as a representative of Israel who is trusted and admired by President Obama, a statement calls on the Israeli leader to relay "the expectation of Israelis and lovers of human rights around the world to see Jonathan Pollard released immediately." While encouraged by the call of senior American figures to release Pollard, the fact that he has not been released troubles them and they ask Obama, as a man of justice and human rights, to act quickly in response to the request.