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I had final interviewed Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, the mother and father of an Israeli-American man taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 final yr, the morning after their speech on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago in August, throughout which the group spontaneously erupted in chants of “deliver them residence.”
The requires the discharge of Hamas’ captives not solely left convention-goers in tears, however gave the impression to be the primary time that the stoic Rachel Goldberg-Polin wept publicly, resting her head on the lectern to sob.
ABC Information’ Matt Gutman interviews Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, mother and father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
ABC Information
Once we spoke the next morning in Chicago, on the conference flooring, the couple appeared buoyed by the group’s unplanned chants and the prospect that their son, Hersh, 23, and others may be freed in a hostage deal being brokered by the Biden administration. That morning, the piece of tape Rachel wears on her shirt marking the times since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, had learn 321.
On day 330, her son, together with 5 different hostages, have been executed in a tunnel within the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah.
The hostages have been among the many over 100 that remained lacking in Gaza from the 250 hostages taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023. About 1,200 different individuals have been killed within the assault by Hamas, in line with Israeli officers.
I met Hersh’s mother and father once more late final week, discovering a pair whose mission was terminated, and whose hope was shattered. Hersh’s dying has shackled them to a grief they’d efficiently deflected in favor of the mission to deliver him residence. However it additionally freed them to say what they by no means dared earlier than.
Jon was paler than I would ever seen; Rachel, thinner. They remained cuttingly trustworthy. Their almost year-long campaign has opened doorways to the places of work of heads of state world wide, however in the long run, they stated they felt defeated.
“We did fail as a result of there was one binary consequence,” Jon stated. “Success equals deliver Hersh and the opposite hostages residence alive. Something wanting that’s failure. So we did fail. However the world allow us to down, let down these six hostages, and the world failed.”
ABC Information’ Matt Gutman interviews Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, mother and father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
ABC Information
Within the days after the execution of the hostages in late August, which triggered mass protests in Israel to stress the federal government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push by means of a cease-fire and hostage deal, the Goldberg-Polins discovered extra about how their son died.
Rachel recited the post-mortem report findings with virtually actuarial element.
“Hersh was virtually six toes tall when he was discovered. He was 115 kilos. We now know he was lacking his left hand, as . They assume that he was standing when he was first shot. The primary bullet, went by means of his proper hand, his solely hand into his shoulder, into his neck. That got here out the facet of his head. Then they assume that he collapsed after which he was shot at the back of the pinnacle. And the bullet got here out of the highest of his head. And we all know that as a result of there’s a lot gunpowder in his hair,” she stated.
Rachel stated Hersh was slumped on his knees when Israeli troops discovered him in that tunnel with the 5 others a day after the execution.
One of many younger ladies additionally captured on the Nova Music Competition on Oct. 7 — Eden Yerushalmi, 24, who was a bartender on the competition — was discovered along with her head resting on his hip.
A backgammon board crafted from scrap cardboard was discovered subsequent to them. In a swirl of doubt about what might have occurred, and the missed alternatives to free the hostages, the Goldberg-Polins have been sure about one factor: their pleasure of their son, who survived his hand being blown off, and the deprivation of meals, solar, water and air.
“He is mentally powerful. He is sensible,” Jon famous. “And I had religion in him. I used to be proper. We each have been proper. He did his half.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage by Hamas through the October 7 assaults, and whose physique has been discovered underground within the Rafah space of the Gaza.
Deliver Them House Now through Reuters
With Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, approaching, Rachel mirrored on how the tragedy affected her religion.
“Folks have requested me, as a result of they know that we’re non secular, and so they stated, ‘Have you ever misplaced your religion by means of this?’ And I stated, ‘I’ve not misplaced my religion in God. I’ve misplaced my religion in lots of people who I believed possibly would behave otherwise,'” she stated.
“However, I’ve such unimaginable religion and pleasure in these six younger individuals for making it so lengthy and doing each single factor proper, as a result of, when somebody places a gun to your head or your hand or your neck and kills you when you’re utterly defenseless, that isn’t your fault in any manner. They did each single factor proper. And I’m extremely happy with Hersh and all of them for making it that lengthy,” she added.
The Netanyahu authorities, they stated, had failed them. They worry that the remainder of the hostages will die in captivity. Netanyahu’s authorities has blamed Hamas for its intransigence. The group’s chief, Yahya Sinwar, has been basically incommunicado for greater than a month.
At this stage, with hostage and cease-fire negotiations stalled and Hamas’ chief unreachable in Gaza’s warren of tunnels, Rachel likened civilians on either side to pawns in chess.
“And I’m involved that many harmless individuals on our facet, definitely in Gaza, are thought-about pawns on this recreation and are expendable till the individuals who have energy and affect resolve that they are finished. And I am not aware of that data,” she stated.
What the couple does perceive, they are saying, is that the present “trajectory would not work.”
“This fixed circle — violence, revenge, anger, hatred, violence, revenge, anger, hatred — it has not served us properly,” Rachel stated. “Who’s going to be courageous sufficient to say, ‘They don’t seem to be going wherever. We’re not going wherever. What are we going to do to maneuver ahead?’ And that is the true query now.”
And it appears to me that within the ocean of phrases spilled out in regards to the battle over the previous yr, nothing resonates greater than this closing thought from Rachel about Israelis and Palestinians.
ABC Information’ Matt Gutman interviews Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, mother and father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
ABC Information
“We all know that there have been openings for offers and people have been alternatives that did not happen for, my understanding is what have been thought-about strategic causes. And evidently issues at the moment are increasing and there is extra distress and struggling,” she stated.
As they wrestle with what their future advocacy work would possibly appear like, Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin have begun to are likely to a much more demanding matter: their grief.
“For 330 days, I used to be actively suppressing a lot emotional torment, turmoil, [and] terror as a psychological protection mechanism that I do not even know the best way to begin to course of any of that,” Rachel stated. “So I am in some ways very a lot frozen within the excessive current, and it is a scary place to be as a result of I do know that it is non permanent.”
