Nadia Matar Writes About the Pollard Handcuff Rally

Justice4JP Release - November 22, 2004

J4JP Prefacing Note:

Dearest Esther and Jonathan,

I want you to know how incredible the handcufffed demonstration was! Countless, endless numbers of our People, youngsters and adults, handcuffed, holding Jonathan's picture and shouting out loud in the streets of Jerusalem "FREE JONATHAN POLLARD" - "FREE JONATHAN POLLARD"!!

There were tons of media present, and there were many, many cars driving by, and all were honking in support! In a word: very moving! The Committee to Bring Jonathan Home is doing a great job!

I want to share a thought with you that may seem at first a little out of the ordinary, but I was thinking about it yesterday while being handcuffed and shouting and cheering for Jonathan.

I do not know if you know, but the south of Israel was attacked - yesterday - by the plague of "arbeh"- locusts. The entire media was only talking about that. How hundreds of thousands of locusts have "attacked" Eilat and were going up slowly, to the Arava and to the Negev etc...

The media was pointing out how this has not happened in Israel since the 1950's and what terrible damage could happen to Israel. And I was thinking how we, believing people, believe that everything in this world is done by Hashem and has a reason. And how, davka, especially on the day we mention Jonathan's 20th year in jail, God sends to us the plague of locusts, the plague God sent to Pharaoh when he refused to "let our people go".

Jonathan represents all of Am Yisrael. When Jonathan is in jail, it is as if we are all in jail. And in order to let Am Yisrael out at the time in Egypt, there was a need to send to Egypt ten plagues. At first one should think then that the plague should have been sent to the USA for Jonathan is jailed there. But no, the plague attacked us here in Israel - in the south.

The south is where Sharon has his Shikmim farm. The south is the area that Sharon wants to abandon (Gaza). And I feel G-d is maybe telling us, today's Pharaoh is Sharon. He has his heart hardened and does not do a thing to release Jonathan, to 'let Jonathan go". We all know that the keys to Jonathan's freedom are in Sharon's hands. He just needs to ask Bush , to make the case to him, and Jonathan could be home with us.

I know this may sound a bit far-fetched to a non-believer. But the coincidence, in my eyes, between the plague that attacked us and the "anniversary" of Jonathan's jail term, was just too amazing. It is simply a fact: the fate of Jonathan is intimately connected to the fate of the Jewish people in Israel.

The conclusion in my eyes, should be the following:

At the time of the Egyptian slavery, we had great leaders who believed in G-d and had no fear of saying "Let my people go". Today, our political leadership is so corrupt that they have cast themselves in the role of our adversaries. A political leadership that does nothing to bring Jonathan home, that basically abandons Jonathan, is the same political leadership that does nothing to really fight and overcome the Arab enemy, basically capitulating to all the terrorists' demands and thus abandoning the Jewish people.

Today, it is the People of Israel who are strong and believing and thus it is the People of Israel who will have to act to free Jonathan and themselves. The youngsters like Adi Ginzburgh, who with Nissan GanOr, organized the demo represents this generation of strong proud Jews who are not afraid to say: "Jonathan is my brother- let him go!!".

Yesterday's demo was a success and hopefully will bring upon more and more activities for Jonathan, until, please G-d, we will be able to celebrate his coming here to Jerusalem, as a free Jew, together with you Esther, his loyal and devoted wife.

We love you. Continue to be strong.

love,
Nadia

P.S. Attached is a photograph of our baby daughter, Nava Elisheva, handcuffed at the demo. It was published in today's Hazofe. Her name is Nava Elisheva. Elisheva stands for "ein lanu Yehuda v'Shomron bli Aza"