Jon Polin spoke to two El Al pilots as they flew to India last night on a plane that should have been carrying his son, who is instead held hostage in Gaza, the family says.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was captured by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He was supposed to fly to India for a year-plus trek on December 27.
According to the family, the pilots told Polin, “We are Gil and Erez, we’re flying to India and we and all of the nation of Israel pray for Hersh’s safe return to Israel and that he gets to fly to India with El Al.”
Polin told the pilots that he hopes Hersh gets to go on his trip to India and that he returns home today.
“Amen, amen,” answered the pilots.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this