President Shimon Peres refused to say, Sunday, if the matter of Jonathan Pollard, serving a life sentence for passing classified information from the United States to Israel, came up during his visit with U.S. President Barack Obama, following speeches by the two to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee convention in Washington. Peres said that he had brought up the subject more than once in the past and the U.S. had its own concerns.
During his speech, President Obama announced that President Peres would receive the American Medal of Freedom. Reporters asked Peres if the United States offered Pollard's freedom for Peres's medal. He responded, "You think you can traffic in these things? I don't think so. There's no connection between the two things."