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The officials also say they believe Issachar’s unusually harsh punishment is a result of Israel’s rejection of the Russian proposal. “You are the first leader I am speaking with after my visit in Washington for Trump’s Deal of the Century,” he said. “I think there is a new opportunity here, maybe even unique opportunity, and I’d like to discuss it with you and hear your insights.”
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. When Issachar tried to board, she was pulled aside and led to a room where her luggage was searched in front of her, she said. No translator was present and because she did not speak Russian, https://soberhome.net/ she was confused and unsure about what was happening. Earlier, an Israeli official said Issachar’s release was the result of a Russian goodwill gesture toward the United States, stressing that Israel did not give Moscow anything in return. “I, like all Israeli residents, are delighted by the joy of the mother Yaffa and the Issachar family on Naama’s return home,” Katz said in a statement.
Before Brittney Griner, an American Israeli woman was held in a Russian prison for having cannabis
Shortly after Issachar’s arrest, the Russians started raising her case in connection to Borkov’s. That’s according to Israeli officials who say Israel concluded Russia’s intelligence and security services were driving the effort. National, was transiting through Moscow’s airport several months ago on her way back to Israel from India.
- Griner, 31, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport while returning to play basketball in Russia, and police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
- Some in Israel also linked Issachar’s arrest to the fate of Alexei Burkov, a Russian man who was arrested in Israel on a US warrant on charges of involvement in a $20m credit card fraud scheme.
- Israeli media have linked Issachar’s possible pardon with the reported decision to pass control of the Alexander courtyard in Jerusalem’s Old City to Russia, which bought the courtyard in 1859.
- If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file.
Haaretz.com, the online English edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, gives you breaking news, analyses and opinions about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Putin said Russia and Israel have made progress “on several bilateral issues,” without specifying further, adding that he granted Issachar pardon “mostly thanks to her mother, but we must remember she did commit a felony.” Netanyahu arrived in Moscow Thursday morning, and met with Vladimir Putin, before bringing Issachar back to Israel on the official plane. In December, Issachar lost an appeal against her sentence, which Netanyahu had described as disproportionate.
Naama’s release was done as a gesture by President Putin to the US,” said a senior official on an inter-ministerial committee dealing with the case, the Israeli news outlet reported. The mother also met Putin during his official visit to Israel last week and told local media that he had “promised” to send her daughter back home. Sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, Issachar asked for a presidential pardon after Putin met her mother during a visit to Jerusalem last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday pardoned an American-Israeli woman who was sentenced to more than seven years behind bars for drug trafficking, the Kremlin said. Israeli media reports alleged that Russia hoped to use Issachar as a bargaining chip to persuade Israeli authorities to send Burkov home even though Russian officials never linked the issues. Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned Issachar on Wednesday, with the Kremlin saying a presidential decree pardoning her on “humanitarian principles” was effective immediately.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently personally requested from Russian President Vladimir Putin a pardon for Issachar, which Putin said he would consider. Media reports, however, have suggested that the pardon deal may have been eased by promises made by the Israeli government over the ownership of a building in Jerusalem which is important to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Alexander Courtyard, situated in Jerusalem’s Old City, has been contested for years and an Israeli court recently ruled in Russia’s favor.
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Shortly after Ms. Issachar was sentenced, however, Israel went ahead with his extradition to the United States. The woman, Naama Issachar, was arrested in April after Russian officials said they found marijuana in her luggage during an airline stopover in Moscow while en route from India to Israel. The amount — 9.5 grams, about a third of an ounce — would normally result in no more than a month’s detention, a fine and deportation from Russia. Naama Issachar, 26, was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo international airport in April 2019, as she travelled from India to Israel.
Earlier, an Israeli official said Issachar’s release was the result of a Russian goodwill gesture toward the US, stressing that Israel did not give the Kremlin anything in return. “Guided by the principles of humanity, I pardon Naama Issachar,” read the decree cited by the Kremlin. She has denied smuggling drugs, noting she had not sought to enter Russia during the layover and had no access to her luggage during her brief stay in Moscow.
Naama Issachar lands in Israel: I’m still shocked
“Due to the presidential decree on pardoning, Naama Issachar has been freed from prison,” the prison service said in a statement. An Israeli-American woman who was jailed in Russia for 10 months before being released in 2020 has spoken for the first time about her experience, which closely echoes that of detained American basketball star Brittney Griner. “Due to the presidential decree on pardoning, Naama Issachar has been freed from prison,” the service said in a statement about the 26 year old. “I just want to say thank you,” Naama Issachar, who was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, told reporters upon landing. “I am still in shock from the whole situation, but I am grateful for everything.”
Netanyahu stressed to Putin that even if he wanted to make such a deal, the supreme court’s ruling made it impossible. The proposed Russian deal was discussed, the Israeli officials say, and Netanyahu stressed to Putin that the punishment sought by Russian prosecutors for Issachar was disproportionate. In late August, the Israeli supreme court approved Borkov’s extradition to the U.S. He was arrested in 2015 while vacationing in Israel after Israeli authorities received an Interpol red notice. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
An Israeli-American woman jailed in Russia on drug charges has been released from prison after some 10 months, the Russian prison service said Thursday morning. Moscow — Russia’s prison service said Thursday that a U.S.-Israeli woman jailed for drug trafficking had been eco sober house ma freed from prison after President Vladimir Putin pardoned her. She was to travel back home to Israel with Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday after he met with Putin to discuss the new Middle East peace initiative announced this week by President Donald Trump.
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According to a senior Israeli official involved in the matter, Israel did not sign a deal with Russia to release Issachar, but rather it was “as a gesture by President Vladimir Putin to Netanyahu.” Ms. Issachar, who was born in New Jersey but lives in Israel, was still being held late Wednesday, though officials said they expected her to be freed on Thursday. Her release is likely to help Mr. Netanyahu’s chances in Israel’s March 2 election. The pardon, issued by President Vladimir V. Putin, came on the eve of a visit to Moscow by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. The two leaders are expected to talk about the Middle East plan proposed by President Trump this week. There she shared a cell with 40 other women and was allowed outside only one hour a day.
He told reporters that he had the opportunity to discuss Donald Trump’s Middle East peace proposal, unveiled on Tuesday, with the Russian leader, as well as the situation in Syria. MOSCOW — An American-Israeli woman was pardoned on Wednesday, months after her severe punishment on charges of having a small amount of marijuana had made her an unwitting pawn in a geopolitical game. Issachar was released from Russian prison after approximately 10 months on Jan. 30, 2020. She was arrested after about 10 grams of marijuana was discovered in her luggage during a layover in Moscow. Securing Issachar’s release could boost Netanyahu’s popularity ahead of the March 2 elections, the third in less than a year after the prime minister failed to form a government in the previous two rounds of voting. Before Issachar was released, Israeli officials reportedly turned down an offer by Moscow to swap her for Russian national Aleksei Burkov, whose website facilitated more than $20 million in credit card fraud.
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She thanked Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was set to leave for Moscow later Wednesday from Washington to discuss President Trump’s Middle East peace plan with the Russian leader. Issachar’s mother, Yaffa, reacted to the pardon by saying, “This is the moment I waited for almost a year. Right now all I want is to hug my daughter Naama,” according to the Times of Israel.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Putin on Thursday, welcomed the pardon. Alicia Victoria Lozano is a California-based reporter for NBC News focusing on climate change, wildfires and the changing politics of drug laws. “I think there’s so much power in what we train our minds to think,” she continued. “There was something that I read, and it really changed everything that I eco sober house complaints thought. It was a quote that said if you can’t change anything else, you can choose to change your mind. It was so simple.” Watching Griner’s ordeal play out in the media has resurfaced some of her darkest memories, Issachar said. While Issachar languished in a cell, slowly learning Russian and writing in her journal, a political tête-à-tête was playing out behind closed doors.
Reports in Hebrew-language media said Israeli officials believed Burkov may be connected to Russian intelligence. Russia asked Israel several times to release Borkov, but Israeli officials told them to wait for the court’s decision. But in October, a Russian court sentenced Ms. Issachar to seven and a half years in prison on drug possession and smuggling charges, and she was sent to a penal colony. Investigators said Ms. Issachar had admitted to possession, but she later said that the statement was given under pressure. What was supposed to be a three-hour layover in Moscow turned into a monthslong ordeal in Russian detention for Issachar, an American Israeli woman who was arrested in 2019 while she was traveling with a small amount of cannabis. Naama’s release was done as a gesture by President Putin to the US,” a senior official in an inter-ministerial committee dealing with the case told reporters in Netanyahu’s entourage.