As Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon prepared to meet his U.S. counterpart, Chuck Hagel, his Facebook page was flooded with requests from citizens, that he ask Hagel to release Jonathan Pollard.
Some of the people who commented reminded Yaalon that he stated, eight years ago, that Pollard had been punished disproportionately, and that there Israel was morally obligated to release him.
One of the comments was from a woman named Shefi Elyashiv, who said: "Make the subject of Pollard a central one in your meeting with Hagel. It is time to carry out the moral imperative to release him!"
Another comment told Yaalon to emulate the actions of former Mossad chief, Meir Amit, after the spy scandal known as "The [Lavon] Affair," which involved Israeli agents in Egypt. "You surely know well that were it not for Meir Amit, the people involved in 'The Affair' would have continued to rot in the Egyptian jail, as Pollard now rots in the U.S. Please, as a person of morals and conscience, be our Meir Amit and save Pollard."