“We should all say Kaddish for Esther, we are all her children”

(A7) At the funeral of the late Esther Pollard, many came to say goodbye to her, including Moshe Leon, the mayor of Jerusalem.

He said that this is truly a sad time: She was a true heroine, for her fight for Jonathan. As mayor, I was privileged enough for her to come and live out her last years here in the city of Jerusalem.”

Boaz Bismuth, editor of Israel Hayom, says that he came to pay his last respects to “true righteousness”. “It was a huge privilege to know her, it was a huge privilege to be there when they came to Israel and I am sad for Jonathan, they had so many plans to be here with the people of Israel in the State of Israel and it is a tragic end that came too soon. I am sad today.”

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, founder of Shurat HaDin Law Center, adds: “Esther was a warrior, she was a lioness. With stubbornness and endless devotion she fought for Jonathan and fought against her illness. She won in regards to Jonathan but unfortunately lost the battle against the disease.”

Former Secretary of State Tzahi Braverman says he trained the team that was in charge of the Pollards’ absorption in the country. “I had the privilege of being the first, along with Prime Minister Netanyahu, to receive them at the airport. Finally, after 35 years, we were able to bring them here. Esther was a very determined woman, clinging to her goals. She was a true partner to Jonathan, and it greatly saddens me that only a year after she arrived in Israel, she passed away. ”

Former Knesset member Moti Yogev recognized the special faith of Esther who fought for years for her husband and it is thanks to her he was able to come to the Land of Israel. “We are here to lay to rest a great woman.”

Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu, the grandson of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, said: “Dear Esther would come to my grandfather for hours on end. You have to be a very special person to stand against such great forces and say that they will release this person. How much willpower and strength it takes to look the future in the eye and say that I create reality and not just react. ”

“When I heard about her death I thought of my grandfather, of us as rabbis, how many times people come to us and it seems difficult for us to implement their unrealistic idea, and how a grandfather who hears that there is a person sentenced to 35 years in prison and the State of Israel denies the cause, what strength and faith are needed to support her. This is the main thing we take from this family. There is no one to say Kaddish for them and we ask people to say Kaddish for Esther. We are all their children.”

Her funeral is scheduled for Monday at Jerusalem’s Har HaMenuchot Cemetery.

The woman’s husband, Jonathan Pollard, previously worked as an intelligence analyst for the United States Navy and received a life sentence for providing Israel with classified information in violation of the Espionage Act.

He was released after serving 30 years in a US prison, and after the parole restrictions imposed on Pollard’s ability to leave New York ended, he and his wife moved to Jerusalem.

The pair wed in 1994, while Jonathan was still imprisoned, and Esther spent years advocating for the release of her husband.

In 1996, Esther went on a 19-day hunger strike to demonstrate against Jonathan’s imprisonment, but ended the protest after meeting with Israel’s then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

She explained that the official “publicly committed himself to bring Jonathan home,” according to Canadian Jewish News.

Following the death of his wife, Pollard said that Esther “was an amazing fighter,” according to The Jerusalem Post.