Jonathan Pollard Mizrachi, Jonathan Pollard Levy, Jonathan Pollard Rabinowitz...

Arutz7 - July 1, 2004

A bereaved father, speaking at a rally marking the end of a four-day youth hunger strike on behalf of Jonathan Pollard, said that we must all "adopt" Pollard and demand his freedom "because he is ours!"

"This was the opening salvo, and it will bring others to continue in this path." So said Eli Joseph yesterday, at a rally marking the end of a four-day youth hunger strike on behalf of Jonathan Pollard.

Participant Yossi Abramson reports that over 200 people gathered in the Rose Garden outside the Knesset yesterday afternoon, joining more than 40 youths who had been there for four days without food and with very little drink. Their demand was twofold: for the Israeli public to wake up to the urgency of the Pollard issue, and to the Americans: "Free Pollard Now!"

Among the speakers was Moshe Keinan, whose son Avihu was killed in an IDF military operation in Gaza, and who made an emotional plea on behalf of Pollard: "We must not beg, but rather demand, proudly and without being ashamed. Jonathan is ours - meaning 'mine' in plural. Jonathan is mine; just as I had a son named Avihu Keinan, I have another son named Jonathan Pollard. I suggest that everyone add a name to Jonathan Pollard. He should no longer be called Jonathan Pollard, but rather Jonathan Pollard Mizrachi, Jonathan Pollard Levy, Jonathan Pollard Rabinowitz, and so on!"

Keinan then called on Prime Minister Sharon directly and said, "Do something that has not yet been done: Start fighting for Pollard! Tomorrow morning, call in the U.S. Ambassador and say, 'I demand Jonathan Pollard because he is mine!'"

A representative of the fasting youth, Ra'yah Ziv of Givatayim, explained to the crowd: "We began our summer vacation with this strike because we couldn't see ourselves going off to freedom while Jonathan Pollard continues his 19-year incarceration with no end in sight."

"We're not fooling ourselves that he will be freed tomorrow morning," Ziv said, "but actions like these raise public awareness. Jonathan, you are our brother. We have not forgotten, and we will not forget!"

Another hungry Pollard activist, Avraham Neuman of Jerusalem, read aloud the list of all the hunger strikers and their hometowns from all over the country.

Other speakers included Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Prof. Hillel Weiss, and MK Gilad Erdan. Rabbi Aviner called Pollard "our rabbi and teacher in self-sacrifice... We are small in self-sacrifice, while he has this trait in abundance. We want him here with us, for his sake and for ours, and on behalf of justice and the desire to rid the human race of injustice. He is carrying this struggle on his shoulders. This is the struggle that we will wage until his release, may it come speedily."

Prof. Hillel Weiss of Professors for a Strong Israel said, "We are unfortunately witness, historically and in this generation, to a string of events in which we abandon people for unjust reasons. We must understand that this man, Jonathan Pollard, documented, photographed, and warned - and he saved the world. There is no one more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than Pollard - and they are getting back at him because he symbolizes conscience."

Likud MK Gilad Erdan, co-chair of the Pollard Forum in the Knesset, said, "It pains me that the citizens of Israel are not out in the streets demanding the release of a Jew who gave of himself so that we would not be killed."