From the Liveblog of
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Parents of slain hostage Goldberg-Polin urge Trump: ‘Let’s think bigger and faster. All 76 hostages out this week’
The parents of murdered Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin make a plea for US President Donald Trump to speed up the release of the remaining hostages held by terror groups in Gaza, after three Israeli men kidnapped were freed from the Palestinian enclave under the first phase of a truce deal.
In a video statement, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin say they felt a particular connection to Or Levy, who was kidnapped from the same bomb shelter as their son on October 7, 2023, as they ran from terrorists who raided the Supernova rave near Kibbutz Re’im.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin says that when Levy was released from captivity in Gaza this morning, one of the first things he asked was if Hersh was okay, “because he had assumed that Hersh had been released long ago, and his brother had to explain to him that Hersh had been murdered five months ago.”
“Seeing the condition of these three hostages, hearing that Or had no idea what happened to Hersh, that Eli was unaware of the fate of his wife and his daughters, is just a gut punch to all of us that we need to do more,” Polin says.
Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin have issued a new call to action, urging President Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push for the release of all hostages held in Gaza "this week.”
"Our plea to you right now is, now that you've done the hard part of getting… pic.twitter.com/j4uwlVzXiS
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 8, 2025
He directly addresses Trump and his Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, urging them, “Let’s not think about phase one and phase two and phase three and many months. Let’s think bigger and faster. All 76 hostages out this week. End of war.”
“Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let’s get it done right now,” he adds.
Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were executed by their Hamas captors in August. Their bodies were recovered and brought back to Israel by the IDF.
