From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Democratic lawmaker says parents of US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin invited last week to speak at DNC
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
CHICAGO — Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz reveals that the Democratic National Convention organizers decided already last week to give a speaking slot to the parents of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
The speech from Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin wasn’t announced until an hour before last night’s program, and there had been speculation that the DNC was weighing whether or not to give a hostage family the stage as it also faces pressure from pro-Palestinian activists to be platformed. The latter group says it was denied an opportunity to have a representative address the convention.
Speaking at an event organized by the Jewish Democratic Council of America on the sidelines of the DNC, Wasserman Schultz says she’s known for a week that the Goldberg-Polins had been the hostage family that DNC organizers had chosen to address the convention.
The Democratic lawmaker says that Rachel Polin had been anxious about the reaction she’d receive in the United Center last night but the scene ended up being akin to “a synagogue standing for prayer.”
“There was a reflexive sign of respect for the families and for their cause,” Wasserman Schultz says.
“No matter what the jackasses on other side of aisle say,” she adds, the reception received by the Goldberg-Polins received showed that the Democratic Party stands for the US-Israel relationship, for returning the hostages and for securing a ceasefire in Gaza.
