on tuesday , the effort finally succeeded , as the united states parole commission announced that mr. pollard , 60 , met the legal standards and would be released just before thanksgiving .
they wrote letters , cited statistics and introduced evidence that their client met two legal standards for parole for pollard but denied his release was in any way connected to the iran deal .
but that hearing set in motion an intense scramble by lawyers for mr. pollard has been granted parole after serving 30 years .
washington — in july 2014 , after jonathan j. pollard had served 29 years of a life sentence for spying on behalf of israel , his hopes for freedom were thwarted when a federal panel denied his request for parole .
pollard 's release -- exactly 30 years after his arrest -- could help ease the tensions between the united states and israel .
eliot lauer , one of the two lawyers who have been working pro bono for the past 15 years to free mr. pollard , called his client on tuesday with the news .
 
both the justice department and pollard 's status was determined by the united states parole commission according to standard procedures , and the parole commission 's decision was in no way linked to foreign policy considerations , " said national security spokesman alistair baskey . "
mr. pollard , one of the country ’s most notorious spies , will walk out of federal prison in butner , n.c. , on nov. 20 .