Jonathan and Esther Pollard Land in Eretz Yisrael

Jonathan Pollard landed early Wednesday morning in Eretz Yisrael with his wife Esther as the U.S. authorities finally removed all restraints to his dream to relocate there.

As the plane approached its landing, Mr. Pollard was escorted to the cockpit of the plane and listened as the air traffic controller welcomed him.

Precisely five years since Jonathan Pollard was released from prison after serving thirty years of an unprecedented life sentence for passing classified information to an ally, Israel, he was finally informed last month that onerous parole restrictions slapped on him then were lifted. Thirty-five years after his arrest on November 21, 1985, Jonathan Pollard, now 65, has finally arrived in Israel.

He was granted Israeli citizenship while still in prison, and he had expressed his wish to settle there. “The final step which remains in order to be free is to return home, to the land of the people we love,” Jonathan said recently.

Due to the medical condition of his wife, they chose to travel on a private plane from Newark to ben Gurion Airport.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, who worked tirelessly for decades to secure his release, told Hamodia, “Shehecheyanu vekiyemanu vehigiyanu lazman hazeh! 35 years after he was arrested, b’ezras Hashem he landed early this morning in Eretz Yisrael as a free man. It’s been a long journey, and this stage of the journey has ended. Im yirtzeh Hashem he should be able to start the next chapter of his life where he longed to be, in Eretz Yisrael.”