MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Israeli national Naama Issachar, who was sentenced to 7.5 years behind bars in Russia for drug smuggling and later pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has returned home on Thursday on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane, accompanied by her mother Yaffa. Her release fulfills the promise made by Putin to Yaffa Issachar in Jerusalem on January 23, when he assured Naama’s mother that "everything will be alright."
Issachar’s pardon has become one of the main topics of the day in the Israeli media, along with Washington’s "deal of the century" on Middle Eastern regulation. Netanyahu arrived in Russia on Thursday to discuss the US plan with Putin; however, the majority of reporters expressed more interest in Naama Issachar’s story. Only a handful of correspondents were able to talk to Naama’s mother Yaffa, who arrived in Moscow two days earlier. Russian and Israeli reporters accompanied Issachar to the airport, where she met with Netanyahu and his wife Sara before boarding the prime minister’s plane returning to Israel.
Both Russian and Israeli media closely followed Issachar’s release. On Wednesday morning, Putin signed a decree pardoning Issachar, and on Thursday morning, it was reported that the Israeli national had already left the detention facility; however, her whereabouts remained unknown for some time.
Following her release, Issachar was spotted at the airport, where reporters gathered to document Netanyahu’s departure. After leaving the detention facility, the Israeli citizen and her mother left for the airport, where they waited for the Israeli PM to conclude the talks with Putin. Naama and Yaffa Issachar declined to speak to the press. No reporters were allowed at the first meeting between Naama, Netanyahu and his wife Sara, which was documented by the Israeli PM’s personal camera operator and later published on Netanyahu’s Twitter.
The video footage shows Netanyahu and his wife Sara hugging a smiling Naama Issachar and her mother. The Issachars then exchanged words with Sara Netanyahu, which were not captured on camera. The meeting lasted for about thirty minutes, after which Netanyahu, his wife, Naama Issachar and her mother headed towards the Israeli PM’s plane with Russian and Israeli reporters gathered on the tarmac. They boarded the plane hand in hand, declining to provide any comments to the media.
Issachar’s case
Naama Issachar, an Israeli and US national, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on April 9, 2019, when she was in the airport’s transit zone before boarding a connecting flight to Tel Aviv after arriving from New Delhi. The airport’s security guards found 9.6 grams of cannabis in her luggage. On October 11, 2019, the Khimki City Court in the Moscow Region found Issachar guilty of drug possession and smuggling (Part 1, Section 228 and Part 2, Section 229.1 of the Russian Criminal Code) and sentenced her to 7.5 years in a standard regime penal colony. The Moscow Regional Court upheld the verdict on December 19.
In October 2019, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin asked Putin to pardon Issachar. On December 6, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that he had raised the issue at a meeting with Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov in Rome, expressing hope that the Russian president would consider the request to pardon the Israeli national.
During a visit to Jerusalem on January 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Issachar’s mother, assuring her that "everything will be alright" regarding her daughter. "I am aware of the position of [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] who asks to make an appropriate decision. All that will certainly be taken into account when the final decision is made," Putin said.
On January 26, Issachar made an official pardon appeal. On January 29, Putin decreed to pardon Issachar. "Guided by the principles of humanity, I decree to pardon Naama Issachar, born in 1993, sentenced on October 11, 2019 by the Khimki City Court of the Moscow Region, releasing her from serving the rest of her sentence," Putin’s decree says.