Ex-spy Jonathan Pollard said that the Israeli government had abandoned him and was not making an effort to free him.

“If I didn’t believe in Hashem (G-d) I’d be very depressed right now,” Pollard told Channel 12 News.

He said that he was not surprised that the Israeli government had not secured his right to move to Israel. "To be disappointed you need to expect more, and my expectation level is so low that I’m not surprised. The government's indifference towards getting us home would be crushing if I didn't know that our faith in Hashem and our love of the land and the people are so strong that they will eventually bring us home.”

“It’s a question of priorities, there’s always seems to be something else," he said. "To make it a priority would mean that the government actually cared about me enough to say this is what we want. He's done his time it's time for him to come home, in a forthright manner. That simply hasn’t been done.”

“What this means as for the political establishment’s commitment is that if you don’t care about someone like myself, who spent 30 years in prison on behalf of the land and people of Israel, then how much concern can you actually show or exhibit or feel towards anybody in the country, from our soldiers to our civilians?

“If you don’t show this kind of commitment to one individual it suggests you don’t really have that kind of commitment to the rest of the people in the country. That’s where the test is. Are you willing to actually fight for one?

“We’re still fighting to get home, and with the help of G-d we will get home,” Pollard concluded.

The Prime Minister's Office said in response: “Israel remains committed to returning Jonathan Pollard to Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu has raised the matter many times with the US president and will continue doing so until he is returned.”