Following the reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is interested in including the former spy on the Likud’s list for the Knesset, those close to Pollard asked what he thought of the matter. Pollard’s answer, a day after his exciting immigration to Israel, was unequivocal. “I suffered enough,” he told a friend who updated him on the news.
Prime Minister Netanyahu welcomed Jonathan Pollard to Israel
It should be noted that when he got off the plane, Pollard made it clear that he and his wife Esther intended to “become productive citizens,” and it seemed that Pollard would try to integrate into the labor market in the country. The couple continues to stay in solitary confinement, as required of any citizen entering Israel from the United States.
Pollard landed in Israel on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday accompanied by his wife Esther, about a month after restrictions on his movement were lifted and five years after he was released from federal prison after a lengthy 30-year sentence for his activities for Israel. Pollard, who was convicted of spying for Israel while working as a U.S. Navy intelligence investigator in the 1980s, received Israeli citizenship during his time in a North Carolina prison, where he remained until the Parole Board agreed to release him under restrictions in 2015.
“We are excited to be home at last after 35 years,” Pollard said after his landing: “We thank the people of Israel and the Prime Minister of Israel for bringing us home. “This is a great country and it has a bright future. It is the future of the Jewish people, and we are not going anywhere.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu, who received the Pollards, said: “Welcome back, how good it is that you have come home. Now you can start life anew, with freedom and happiness. Now you are at home.”