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Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), right, applauded potential U.S. release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in order to spur stalled Mideast peace negotiations.

(Advance composite photo)

NEW DORP -- Rep. Michael Grimm on Tuesday applauded the possibility that the U.S. would release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard early from his life sentence as a spur to the Israelis in the troubled Mideast peace negotiations.

"I think it's long overdue," Grimm said.

Pollard, a Jewish American, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he gave thousands of classified documents to his Israeli handlers.

Releasing him would be a reversal from previous American refusals, and would show urgency on the part of the U.S. to keep the peace negotiations alive.

Grimm stirred controversy in 2011 when he called for Pollard's release after visiting Pollard in federal prison in North Carolina.

Grimm on Tuesday said that Pollard's sentence was unjust because others convicted of the same offense had received three- or four-year sentences.

"If one person steals a loaf of bread and gets a misdemeanor, and another person gets 10 years in prison, that's not justice," Grimm said.

He added, "If he were released early, it would be righting a little bit of that wrong, even though at this point, most of the damage is done."

He said that the Pollard sentence set "a very bad and dangerous precedent," and that the law "has to be carried out fairly, but equitably."

"I don't have any love lost for anybody who tries to hurt this country," said Grimm, a Marine combat veteran of the Gulf War. "If someone wants to give up our secrets and puts our military in harm's way, I have no problem with the death penalty."

But the Pollard case was different, Grimm said, with Pollard supplying information to an ally, information "that didn't necessarily hurt the United States."

He said, "It may have embarrassed us, but it wasn't strategic, didn't put our troops in harm's way, didn't put undercover operatives in harm's way."

Said Grimm, "I can never condone in any way, shape or form what he did, and he deserved to be punished, period. But the punishment has to be fair for what others have done."

Apart from any negotiations in the meantime, Pollard could be released from prison on Nov. 21, 2015 -- 30 years after his arrest.

Grimm is not alone in his stance. In recent years, former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, along with prominent figures such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, have all called for Pollard's release.

Pollard is said to be in poor health. His case has become a rallying cry in Israel, where leaders say his nearly three decades in U.S. prison amounts to excessive punishment.

President Barack Obama and his predecessors have refused to release Pollard despite pleas from Israeli leaders.

The Associated Press said that Pollard's release was far from certain and would require significant concessions from the Israelis to the Palestinians.

That could include some kind of freeze on Israeli settlements in disputed territory, release of Palestinian prisoners, and a guarantee that Israel would stay at the negotiating table past and end-of-April deadline.