Hundreds of people demonstrated Thursday evening in front of the David's Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, where US Secretary of State John Kerry is staying, and demanded that Jonathan Pollard be freed from US jail, after 28 years of incarceration for espionage on behalf of Israel.
The protest was initiated by "The Guild," the student union of Bar Ilan University. Guild chairman, Matan Bar Noy, told Arutz Sheva that just as President Barack Obama gave a speech directly to Israeli students at the Jerusalem Conference Center, the students now want to speak directly to the US Administration.
“It is unbearable that Pollard is in jail for 29 years,” he said. “We are sick of this double standard.”
MK Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid) took part in the protest and said that “as a former American,” he understands why Pollard was punished – “but now even the senior officials say that it is time to release him. It is humanitarian, and that is true justice,” he said.
MK Lipman made clear: “We will not rest until Pollard is in Israel. I call on all students worldwide to fight for his human rights.”
MK Hilik Bar (Labor) said that Pollard's incarceration “has become a huge wound in the heart of our nation, mostly because everyone now understands that Jonathan Pollard paid his debt in a way that is disproportional, and beyond any reasonable limit. I call for his immediate release.”
Dov Kalmanovich, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, commended the students who took part in the protest and said: “Jews must not abandon Jews. We must unite in a clear call against the injustice done to Pollard.”
Photos: Yair Goldshtof