Rachel Golderg-Polin, the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7, told NBC News of her daily battles as she awaits the return of her son, the site published on Friday.
Telling the source that for the last six months she has been mentally sending her son the message “I love you. Stay strong. Survive,” Goldberg-Polin spoke of the struggles she has experienced.
What happened to Hersh?
Piecing together what happened to Hersh from footage and survivor testimonies, it is understood that Hersh had tried to escape Hamas terrorists while attending the Supernova music festival on October 7. Hersh, along with 28 other people, hid in a roadside bomb shelter but terrorists discovered them and threw hand grenades and sprayed gunfire into the bunker.
While many died in the bunker, Hersh survived but was left injured. GoPro footage of the attack, which was shared with the family, revealed that half of Hersh’s left arm was blown off before he was taken hostage.
Having, at the time of the interview, waited 163 days for news of her son, Goldberg-Polin said “We have to pretend to be normal if we want to function.”
“First thing in the morning, I always say to myself — ‘And now pretend to be human.’ And I get out of bed and I put on this costume of being a person… It’s kind of like someone’s holding a branding iron on your back and you can’t let anybody know.”
Wearing a shirt with the number of days that the hostages have been held captive, she told the source “It makes people stop and it makes people really ask and question and push themselves to come up with — how are we allowing this to continue to happen?”
The war raging in Gaza
Speaking on the war against Hamas raging in Gaza, Goldberg-Polin described the complex feelings she had. “I’m happy that I’m upset when I see that the other side is also in pain, that I’m not celebrating their pain because that would mean that I’m not human anymore,” she said.
She added that she held hopes that there was a mother in Gaza somewhere caring for her son.
Goldberg-Polin said she was convinced that the government should compromise to stop the suffering in both Gaza and Israel. Getting Hersh and other hostages out will come at a high price for Israel no matter what happens, she told NBC. “But I actually think that’s something that we should be proud of, and it’s something that we should embrace, that we value life and that it’s who we are.”