Jonathan Pollard: 'We are redeeming our land'
Arutz 7 - May 10, 2021
Pollard speaks out during visit to Jewish center in Jerusalem named in his honor. 'Ateret Cohanim is doing the work of redeeming Jerusalem.'
Jonathan and Esther Pollard visited a Jewish compound in the Abu Tor neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem ahead of Jerusalem Day, marking the 20th anniversary of the naming of an apartment building redeemed in the Yemenite Village in Shiloah after the former Israeli spy.
Joined by Ateret Cohanim spokesman Daniel Luria, the Pollards viewed the 'Beit Yonatan' building in Shiloah, which was named after Pollard even before the first residents moved into the building in 2004.
"This is a day that I knew inside would happen, but I was never sure when it would happen. Because 20 years ago, Esther was standing exactly here with Mati Dan," said Luria, referring to Ateret Cohanim chief Matityahu Dan, "overlooking the Temple Mount, the City of David, and the Yemenite Village."
"This was before we'd moved back into the Yemenite Village. We decided then that the very first building in the Yemenite Village would be dedicated for Jonathan Pollard - Beit Yonatan."
"The same way that we were going to redeem the Yemenite Village, so too, Jonathan Pollard was going to be redeemed from the jail in America."
"Today, on this Jerusalem Day, we have close to 300 families and 120 children living in the Yemenite Village, a pulsating Jewish center. We have the old synagogue, and the Arab squatters are no longer there."
Pollard lauded Ateret Cohanim for its work, saying the group is doing the "heavy lifting" in redeeming properties in Jerusalem.
"The feeling is we're in the middle of a process. Just as Nechemia and Ezra came back to rebuild Jerusalem one step at a time, we're rebuilding our Jerusalem a step at a time."
"Ateret Cohanim is doing the heavy lifting by redeeming our property and populating them."
"With God's help, we will go slowly but surely from victory to victory because this is our land. That is our land. Beit Yonatan, with the synagogue there - everything we're doing with Ateret Cohanim is rebuilding our land, our rightful land."