Pleas From All Quarters: Free Pollard Now!

Hillel Fendel - Arutz7 News - March 21, 2007

"Let's strike while the iron is hot." This is the feeling of many who plan to take part in a Jerusalem rally on behalf of Jonathan Pollard Thursday afternoon. The demonstration demanding yet again that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert strongly request clemency for the long-imprisoned Israeli citizen will begin at the US Consulate on Agron St. at 4 PM, and will then continue to the Western Wall at 5 PM.

The rally will be jump-started by a group of 25 yeshiva high school students from Tiberias who are in the midst of a 3-day, 50-mile march on behalf of Pollard. They will be arriving at the Biblical Zoo in southern Jerusalem at approximately 2 PM, and from there will march through the streets of Jerusalem wearing "Free Pollard!" shirts and waving similar banners. When they reach the consulate, they will present a petition signed by nearly 8,000 youths demanding clemency for Pollard.

The march-and-rally, designed to pressure the Israeli government to pressure US President Bush for a pardon for Pollard, coincide with a host of measures being taken in the United States on behalf of Pollard. These include call-ins to the White House, youth activities, articles in the media, and more.

Rabbi Lerner: The Jewish community has woken up, and the heavens appear to rocking.

Torah Umesorah, the National Association of Torah Day Schools in the US, has begun a campaign calling upon all its hundreds of schools to take an active stance on behalf of Pollard. Specifically, students around the country are asked to write a letter - one per student per day! - to the White House, expressing their sentiments about Pollard's 21-year incarceration and asking that President Bush grant him clemency. The campaign is scheduled to begin after the Passover holiday, in the event that Pollard is still in prison.

In addition, over the past few days, the World Bnei Akiva organization has just passed a resolution in support of Pollard, and the prestigious Jerusalem Conference awarded Jonathan Pollard its Lover of Zion award. A group of Jerusalem city council members have begun an initiative to have the holy city - site of dozens of "Free Pollard" demonstrations over the years - grant the Israeli patriot honorary citizenship.

"The Jewish community has woken up," says Rabbi Pesach Lerner of the National Council of Young Israel, who has been coordinating many of the Pollard activities, "and the heavens appear to rocking. The process has begun, and with G-d's help it will not end until Jonathan is in Jerusalem."