During a business trip to New York this week, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat had an unscheduled – and wholly unexpected – impromptu meeting with the newly freed Jonathan Pollard.

The two ran into each other in the middle of Manhattan on Monday just as Mr. Pollard and his wife Ester sat down at a coffee shop not far from a charitable event Mr. Barkat was scheduled to attend.

Mr. Barkat’s accidental meeting with Pollard marks the first time since his release in November that the former spy has met with an Israeli official.

A statement released by the Jerusalem municipality said the mayor was “excited” to meet with Mr. Pollard, whom he had awarded a medal as an “Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem” prior to his parole.
Ester Pollard remarked that her husband had never received the medal, and Mr. Pollard added that he would be grateful to receive it.

While he did not have any official medal on hand, Mr. Barkat removed his Jerusalem pin from his jacket lapel and used it as a stand-in, affixing it to his suspenders.

“If Jonathan cannot come to Jerusalem,” Mr. Barkat said, referring to the terms of Mr. Pollard’s parole, “then Jerusalem will come to him in New York or anywhere else in the world.”

This story originally appeared in the www.israelnationalnews.com