The parents of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American national, reported being repeatedly rejected when they warned top Israeli officials that their son and other Hamas captives in Gaza were running the risk of being executed by the terrorist group.
In an interview broadcast Thursday evening, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin also indicated that they had refused an offer made by the Prime Minister who wanted to speak to them after their son’s funeral. They clarified that they had sought to distance themselves from other officials – whom they accused of failing to understand the profound urgency of rescuing Israelis who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and for not having had the political will to help them.
“There were policymakers who, for their own reasons, did not seize these opportunities and so we missed them,” Polin told Israeli news channel N12.
Receive our daily edition for free by email so you don’t miss the best news. Free registration!
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was one of six hostages whose bodies were found in a Gaza tunnel in late August – along with Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi and Alexander Lobanov. They had been executed by their captors, apparently put on alert as Israeli troops appeared to approach their hideout. The discovery of the remains of the captives led to strong anger against the government, which proved incapable of concluding a ceasefire agreement which would have opened the door to the release of at least some hostages, and which continues to assert that only military action and pressure can move things forward.
The hostages were among 251 people kidnapped in Israel on October 7 during the pogrom in southern Israel by the Hamas terrorist group – gunmen massacred more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. , sowing desolation.
Speaking alongside his wife for the first time since their son’s death, Jon Polin said that during the many months of war he had “challenged the decision-makers” at various meetings about a lack of input. aware of the urgency to take action at a time when, along with other families, he was pushing for an agreement.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was captured by Hamas terrorists during the Supernova Festival near Kibbutz Reim on October 7, 2023. (Rachel Goldberg)
He said he questioned the leaders: “Why are you sure that we have time and that we are not going to put ourselves in a situation where too much military pressure will lead the kidnappers to line up the hostages next to each other? and shoot them in the head? “.
“And people everywhere assured us: ‘No, no, it’s not going to end like that.’ We asked that same question: ‘Why won’t it end like that?’ and each time, we were told: ‘It’s an asset; there are clear reasons why such an outcome will not happen,’” he continued.
A scary scene
Rachel Goldberg-Polin spoke of the conditions of detention for Hersh and the five other hostages, as communicated to the family: she spoke of “an airless tunnel, completely dark, with no plumbing.” .
She said that all along the tunnel there were bottles filled with very dark urine, indicating how dehydrated the hostages were. A plastic bucket had been placed at the end of the tunnel so that the hostages could have some privacy while they relieved themselves.
Hersh, 23, stood nearly six feet tall, but weighed only 120 pounds at the time of his burial. His left hand was blown off by a grenade on the day of the October 7 pogrom. When he was found, a bullet had passed through his remaining right hand, apparently because he had tried to protect himself during the execution. He also had gunshot wounds to the shoulder, neck and back of the head. He was on his knees when her lifeless body was discovered, and a 24-year-old captive, Eden Yerushalmi, was leaning on his knees.
“It was a horrible scene. They were all so skinny and they were all shot multiple times at point blank range,” Goldberg-Polin said.
Don’t ask for our forgiveness
When asked about Israeli leaders choosing not to rescue the hostages, Jon Polin explained that the government had missed opportunities to free the captives several times over the past 12 months.
“The reasons for these failures have changed each time, whether it is the Netzarim corridor or the Philadelphi corridor, the manner of bringing Gaza citizens from the south to the north of the Strip or the duration of a truce,” he said.
Families of hostages and their supporters call on the government to reach a deal to free their loved ones, in Tel Aviv, October 10, 2024. (Pro-Democracy Protest Movement/Danor Aharon)
He noted that all of l’establishment security official in Israel had supported compromises towards finalizing an agreement, but that there was also “political pressure” working in the other direction. Polin cited a letter denouncing the possible deal that was signed in July by leading rabbis in the national-religious movement “who, I think, never understood the content of an agreement that could be concluded and which in any case rejected its very principle”.
In recent days, many of these same rabbis have appeared to indicate a change of position in a new letter, declaring themselves in favor of “a responsible agreement”.
He revealed that he and his wife had declined an offer made by Netanyahu’s office – the prime minister had offered to come and speak to them after their son’s funeral. “We decided at that point not to do it. I don’t really know what we could have said to political decision-makers, to certain rabbis, to other people in positions of leadership which disappointed us so much,” said John.
“I found it very interesting that influential people tried to come see us during the shiva. We said, ‘Please, we don’t want these people here,'” said Rachel, who said she refused “with kindness.”
“When you choose to do something that you know is wrong, you cannot – at least according to Jewish law… Leviticus [dit] that when you commit a sin intentionally, you are accountable, you are punished for that sin,” she continued. “Don’t come and ask me to forgive you for this sin you have committed. It’s not me you need to come see. True repentance will come when you find yourself in the same situation where you committed evil in full conscience and where, this time, your choice will be different.”
“What I would like to say to these people who wanted to come to us after choosing not to save the six hostages is: ‘You have 101 chances left to take now. Do it, and this will be your repentance. You don’t need to come and ask me for forgiveness,” she continued, referring to the number of hostages still being held in Gaza.
A harmful hope
Goldberg-Polin said she fears that the hope that hostage families tried to foster for the return of their loved ones may have ultimately caused Israeli leaders to become complacent.
“Perhaps our hope was too contagious, that it had too much positivity in this dark period, making those present around the table and those in power believe that in the end, everyone was going to going home: ‘Come on, let’s calm down, they’re going to be repatriated. It’s just going to take a little while,’” she told Channel 12.
Jon Polin, left, and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin who was taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza, on stage at the Democratic National Convention, August 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Now that we know how they were found, it’s clear there’s not a second to lose. We must act – and now. There are hostages today, as we sit here talking, who are in the same situation – and it has probably gotten even worse. »
What the future holds
Asked during the interview about the next – as yet unknown – chapter of their lives, the couple said they felt a great deal of uncertainty.
Jon said he and his wife were encouraged to enter public life in one way or another.
“We wonder if we will go back to what we were before. Will we return to the jobs we had on October 5 of last year, or should we do something else? “, he asked.
“There is something that we have clearly seen, which is that Israelis and indeed the whole world is hungry for something. And I’m not saying it’s us, I’m not saying they need Jon and Rachel in particular, but there are people who come to us and say, ‘We need clear voices. , healthy voices’. And we’re like, ‘We’re just grieving parents. I’m not sure we are those voices’. But we talk a lot about what we’re going to do from now on. We don’t know yet,” he said.
Rachel admitted that she struggled with no longer being anonymous and struggled with the thought that “from now on I’m someone who triggers a certain amount of emotional pain in other people.”
“I know that everyone wants to comfort us, that it comes from a good feeling. No one would ever, ever do anything to intentionally cause us pain. But it’s painful,” she said.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin delivers the funeral oration for her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, at his funeral in Jerusalem on September 2, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
“We will recover,” Goldberg-Polin promised near the end of the interview.
“There are people who came out of Auschwitz and lived a good life. They never forgot their parents, their brothers and sisters, their spouses and their children whom they had lost there. But they got through it and decided – with considerable effort – to have a good life,” she noted.
“And there are people who came out of Auschwitz and never left Auschwitz,” she added.
“We are in mourning. We suffer, but we personally make the choice to live our lives. We must do it for ourselves. We have to do it for our daughters, and we have to do it because Hersh would have wanted it, so we’re going to live our lives,” Polin said.
Related News :