Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who is on business in New York City, on Monday ran into Jonathan Pollard and his wife Esther who were sitting in a Manhattan coffee shop just around the corner from a Barkat fundraising event.
According to the Jerusalem Municipality’s spokesperson, this was the very first meeting between a senior elected Israeli official and Pollard since his release from Federal Prison last November 20. Barkat, apparently, was thrilled to run into the former Israeli spy, whom he had awarded the medal of Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem while the latter was still behind bars.
Mrs. Pollard told Barkat that Jonathan was yet to physically receive the medal, and Pollard hinted that he would be delighted to get it, and so Barkat, ever the improvising Israeli, removed his gold Jerusalem pin from his lapel and put it on Pollard.
Barkat told the couple, “Since Jonathan is not allowed to go to Jerusalem, the eternal city of the Jewish people will come to him in New York or anywhere else in the world.”
“We are longing for the day when you can arrive in Jerusalem to make it your real home,” Barkat told Pollard.