Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef added his name to the long list of
Israeli and American leaders calling for the release of Israeli agent Jonathan
Pollard on Thursday.
Yosef joined former US Secretary of State George
Schultz and US President Barack Obama's mentor, Harvard Law School Professor
Charles Ogletree, as public figures who have called for Pollard's release in the
past week.
RELATED:George Schultz urges Obama to free Pollard Obama mentor asks him to release Pollard Shas chairman Eli Yishai relayed a letter to Obama from Yosef
in a meeting with American ambassador James Cunningham at Yishai's Tel Aviv
office. Yishai told Cunningham about the urgency of Obama granting Pollard
clemency after serving more than 25 years of a life sentence for passing
classified information to an ally. Cunningham promised to make sure Obama
receives Yosef's letter.
"The matter is complicated, and people are
working on the matter at all times," Cunningham said, according to Yishai's
associates.
Yishai's associates said Yosef had written American
presidents in the past asking for Pollard's release and sent letters about
Pollard via prime ministers who visited the White House.