‘It must serve as a wakeup call’: Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s family approves publication of Hamas propaganda clip

Hamas has released its latest propaganda video of hostages it executed last week, this time featuring American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

Goldberg-Polin’s family has authorized the publication of the video, saying in a statement that it “must serve as an immediate wakeup call to the world to act today to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages before it is too late.

“No other family should endure what we went through,” the statement adds, stressing that they are still marking the seven-day Jewish mourning period after burying Hersh on Monday. His body, along with those of five other murdered hostages, was recovered by the IDF on Saturday.

Israeli authorities and human rights groups, and several freed hostages, have said that hostages are coerced into making their remarks in such videos. Israeli media outlets generally publish them only if their families request that they do so.

It is not immediately known when the video of Goldberg-Polin was filmed.

Unlike a previous clip of him issued by Hamas in April that was in Hebrew, Goldberg-Polin speaks English in the latest one.

He introduces himself, says he was born in Berkeley, California, that he currently lives in Jerusalem, Israel, and that he is a dual US-Israeli citizen.

“I turned 23 four days before I was kidnapped at the party in the Re’im Forest on the seventh of October,” he says, referring to the Nova music festival.

“Since I arrived in Gaza, I’ve survived with almost no medical care, little food and little water. I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun or took a breath of fresh air,” he says, highlighting “non-stop” IDF airstrikes and criticizing the Israeli government.

Goldberg-Polin then makes a plea to US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and all American citizens “to do everything you can to stop the war, stop this madness and to bring me home.”

The short clip ends with the 23-year-old offering a message to his family. “Mama, Dada, Leebie and Orly, I love you. I miss you, and I’m thinking about you every single day. I know you’re doing everything you can and that you’re out in the streets trying to bring me home.”

“Now, I need you to stay strong for me,” he says, in an echo of part of the message his mother Rachel has given when addressing her son at the end of speeches to raise awareness of the hostages’ plight across the globe: “Hersh, if you can hear me, I love you. Stay strong. Survive,” she has said.

The clip of Goldberg-Polin ends with him saying, “Keep on fighting, and hopefully, I believe I’ll be home soon. Don’t stop. I love you.”