Jonathan Pollard was released from a medical center on Sunday and returned to prison. Pollard had been hospitalized after suffering severe pain.

He was granted a two-minute phone call with his wife Esther to update her about his situation. Jonathan sounded very weak, Esther said.  

He asked her to thank President Peres. “I am convinced that if the president continues to use his personal reputation on behalf of [Jonathan’s] release, his life can be saved,” Esther Pollard stated.

“Before the call ended, Jonathan managed to ask if President Peres had already received a response from President Obama, and after I told him no, the time was up,” she recalled.

“I am very worried,” she added.

Pollard was rushed to a hospital Friday. His illness spurred a renewed effort to obtain his release.

Many American officials have called to free Pollard, as have the chief rabbis of Israel and many other Israeli leaders.

Pollard has been imprisoned for 27 years, during the first two of which he was held without bail awaiting trial. Convicted of spying for Israel, a friend and ally of the USA, he has been in prison many years longer than prisoners whose espionage was for non-allies.