On Friday, November 20, Jonathan Pollard will walk out of a federal prison in North Carolina. Mr. Pollard will be released on parole after spending 30 years in prison for violation of the Espionage Act. He will leave behind new prison friends, like Bernie Madoff, who in a twist of fate became yard mates with Mr. Pollard. His release is long overdue.

Mr. Pollard handed over United States intelligence information to Israel and was arrested as he pleaded for sanctuary at the gate of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on November 21, 1985. Entry was denied.

Mr. Pollard endangered American-Israeli relations, took action on his own and deserved punishment. He had not been recruited to spy, but foisted himself on Israel.

A U.S. naval intelligence analyst, Jonathan Pollard sought out Aviem Sella, an Israel Air Force colonel who, at the time, was on leave, pursuing a master's degree in computer science at New York University. Mr. Sela assumed that Mr. Pollard was part of an FBI sting operation, but nevertheless contacted the intel officer of his unit. The response came higher up the ladder, from the head of Israel's Air Force intel. Surprised, Mr. Sela was told to proceed with caution—but to proceed.

Mr. Pollard was not exactly motivated by patriotism; he asked for money and gifts in return for the information he gave Israel. To start, he asked for a diamond ring and for $10,000. He gave the ring to his girlfriend at the time (who later became his wife and then ex-wife). In addition to the $10,000 up front, he received $2,500 a month for his spying. As much as we can say that he did it to help Israel, Mr. Pollard did it for the money, too (though he claimed he would later repay it all). Many people do now know that Mr. Pollard's plea deal (he pleaded guilty to the charge of transferring top secret documents to a foreign government) was intended to lessen the sentence of his wife Anne, who was also arrested. The deal included parole for her after serving three years, and was also supposed to lessen Mr. Pollard's sentence.