Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was released from prison on Friday after 30 years behind bars.

The US Federal Bureau of Prisons commuted his life sentence for passing classified information to an ally to 30 years. He was released from the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.

Pollard will still have to check in regularly with a parole officer for a year and can be returned to prison for poor behavior.

He is not permitted to leave the United States for five years, to give interviews or to go online, amid other conditions that are expected to be revealed Friday.

The head of the Free Pollard campaign, Effi Lahav, said the day is bittersweet, because Pollard suffered through “10,956 black days” in prison. Lahav said Pollard entered prison as a healthy young man and is leaving as a 61-year-old sick man.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US President Barack Obama when he met with him last week to intervene on Pollard’s behalf and let him move to Israel.

The US president did not respond to the request.

"After thirty long and hard years, Jonathan is finally reuniting with his family. I wish Jonathan that this Shabbat will bring him happiness and quiet that will continue into his future," Netanyahu said.

Pollard was a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy when he was recruited by Israeli agents in the 1980s. When it became clear that his espionage had been uncovered, Pollard attempted to seek asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington but was denied. He was instead arrested and handed a life sentence.

However, the unusual longevity of his imprisonment has led to some Israeli leaders to call for Pollard’s release, a cause also championed by Senator John McCain, former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schultz and former CIA director James Woolsey.

It has been reported that Pollard, who has been granted Israeli citizenship, has offered to renounce his American citizenship if he is allowed to move to Israel immediately.

The issue of Pollard’s espionage and subsequent US refusal to commute his sentence has been a point of tension between Israel and the United States during the past three decades. However, Israeli leaders and government ministers have been noticeably quiet prior to Pollard’s release. Press reprots said that Netanyahu has instructed ministers to stay away from the topic in order to avoid a potential spat with Obama.