Father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin asks Netanyahu to stop ‘taking credit’ for his return

Jonathan Polin, the father of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, requests that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “stop claiming” credit for returning his son to Israel.

In a post on Facebook, Polin — whose son Hersh was kidnapped from the Nova festival and murdered in captivity in August 2024 — asks that Netanyahu “stop claiming that ‘his forceful application of combined military and diplomatic pressure has so far achieved the release of 205 hostages out of a total of 255.'”

Polin writes that the “insensitive claim whitewashes the lives of the 20% of the 205 who were taken into Gaza alive, survived a period of torture, and were then killed in captivity, including my son Hersh.”

He adds that before Hersh’s murder, “a negotiated deal was possible to release a number of hostages, including Hersh and at least three others of the five with whom he was held,” and blames Netanyahu for instead deciding to “continue with the risky military operation in Rafah.” This decision, he says, led to the execution by their captors of Hersh and the five hostages he was held with — Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, Eden Yerushalmi and Alex Lobanov.

“Please do not take credit for ‘achieving the release’ of Hersh,” Polin concludes. “This is offensive to Hersh and to our family.”

Netanyahu reiterated the claim over the weekend in his response to a New York Times report accusing him of extending the Gaza war to remain in power, writing that his policies have “so far secured the return of 205 hostages out of a total of 255.”