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Rachel Goldberg, mother of Hersh Goldberg Polin, who was taken hostage by Hamas militants, holds photos of her son in their home in Jerusalem, October 17, 2023. Credit: Ammar Awad / REUTERS Published by Haaretz
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Haaretz Weekly
Oct 24, 2023

The “alternative universe” Rachel Goldberg has been living in since her son Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas, has included non-stop interviews with the media. Rachel and her husband Jonathan have appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine and spoke to “any outlet that would talk” to them, to advocate for humanitarian treatment and expedited release of their son and over 220 hostages being held captive in Gaza.

An appearance on CNN last week, she recounts to Haaretz Weekly host Allison Kaplan Sommer, took an unexpected turn when anchor Anderson Cooper – who is making a documentary about the Supernova music festival massacre - put together her account of witnesses saying her son’s arm had been severed, and something he had seen while in the field reporting on the deadly attack.

“But then he turns, you see this bloody stump, and it takes your breath away,” she said.

Goldberg, who details on the podcast the way her family and its team of supporters had been able to piece together what had happened to Hersh, said she had been “thrilled” at the news of the release of American hostages Judith and Natalie Raanan, who she noted, were, like their family, from Chicago.

“I'm hopeful that the powers that made that happen, will continue to see it through,” Goldberg said.

As to how the continuing efforts to release the hostages will play out, Goldberg hopes that even though "you have people in the street who have gone through complete and utter trauma and are thirsty for an aggressive response… the government is using every ounce of thoughtfulness and wisdom when making its plan."

"There are hundreds of innocent hostages, and I'll also mention there are hundreds of thousands of innocent Gazans who are also trapped there," she says. "We have to be very careful about not causing harm that we can't undo, and I think there is time to plan this out in a way that our soldiers are not embroiled in a situation that will bring us so much more pain, danger and loss of life."