After her only son was kidnapped to Gaza during a party on October 7, Rachel Goldberg Poland, Hersh's mother, addressed the United Nations on Wednesday and told them her son's tragic story. She called on world leaders to help return the hostages: "Everyone should ask himself if he is homosexual or surrounded by hatred."
"My name is Rachel and I am the mother of Hersh Goldberg Poland, he is my only son. The last time I saw him was on Friday night - the sixth of October," she said. "We are Israeli-Americans and live in Jerusalem with Hersh and our two daughters. At 23 p.m. Hersh took his bag, kissed me and John, went to visit his childhood friend and they were going to go to the festival, which ironically is called a festival of unity and love."
Mother of kidnapped Hersh Goldberg-Poland in a scathing speech at the UN
"In the morning I had a cup of tea when the sirens went off in Jerusalem. John had already left for the synagogue, I quickly woke up our daughters and we went to the safe room together. Ten minutes later, we left the safe room, and even though I don't usually use the phone on Shabbat, I opened it to make sure Hersh was okay."
Hell in Mignon
"Two messages immediately popped up on my screen from 08:11 minutes saying: 'I love you' and 'I'm sorry' and I immediately realized something terrible had happened," she said of the difficult moments. When the atrocity began at the party, Hersh managed to escape to a shelter on the side of the road and hide inside, Hamas terrorists began throwing grenades from the doorway, after which they threw an RP. G and shot bundles.
"Most of the boys who were hiding in that shelter died by this time. Several wounded hid under the bodies of the dead and imagined themselves dead. We know from testimonies that Hersh and two young men ordered to stand up, and when Hersh stood, his hand was amputated from his elbow. Somehow he managed to improvise some bandage and get out with the two young men. They were thrown into a Hamas van heading for Gaza.
Last sign of life
"The last marking from Hersh was inside Gaza at 10:25 a.m. We received video showing Hersh getting into the van bleeding where his hand used to be. All this was ten days ago and since then we know nothing. We begged the Red Cross and all other humanitarian organizations to inquire about the well-being of the abductees from 33 different countries around the world who were affected, like Hersh. Babies, grandmothers or Ruth, a muscular dystrophy patient, who was taken to Gaza without her wheelchair. But our requests were not met.
I live, in a universe separate from you. It looks like we live in the same place, but I, like all mothers and fathers, spouses, children, brothers of the abductees, live in a different universe."
Managed to tie an improvised tourniquet. Hersh Goldberg-Poland, photo: from Facebook
"We are asked every day with the cruel question: What about you? - Although there is no intention to be cruel. Imagine your mother, who is presented with only two options: either her son dies or his hand is amputated, he is kidnapped at gunpoint to Gaza and no one knows where he is or if he bled to death. Imagine your mother. That's my answer to the question of how I'm doing. That's what all of us, in our universe, feel. A universe beyond pain, a universe without sleep, a universe of tears.
"There are more than 200 abductees in Gaza right now - where is the world? We are the families of more than 200 families in another universe of grief, but where are you? Why isn't there anyone crying for the abductees? Why doesn't anyone demand only proof of life from Hamas? This is a global humane catastrophe. When people are angry only when babies are being murdered on one side and not on the other, their conscience is broken and their hominicity is broken. Everyone has to ask himself if he is homosexual or if he is surrounded by hatred.
"I understand that hating the other, anyone else, is easy, but hatred doesn't help.
I know that Israel is cautious in its attacks not only because there are abductees in Gaza, but because Israel knows that there are civilians in Gaza. This is why Israel warns Gazans before an attack, when no warning was given to women, babies, children and lovers of love on October 7. War and conflict always hurt innocent people and that is why war is cruel and destructive. We see it around the world. In pain wars, there are never winners.
One of the shields around the party in the bad guys after the massacre, photo: Idan Avni
"One thing gave me hope. One of the witnesses told me that when the bombings started and all the young men jumped into the safe room, there was one guard who ran to the safe room, and when Hamas terrorists closed in on the place, he asked them to keep quiet and go outside to talk to Hamas. He told them: 'I'm an Arab Muslim, they're all my family name, you don't have to look for a name.' He tried to save them. He tried to do the right thing even though it was scary and even though it took unimaginable courage. He was brutally beaten and the witnesses did not know what happened to him."
"We humans are blessed with the gift of intellectuality, creativity, introspection, why don't we use this to solve problems in the universe? Because doing it is difficult and it requires imagination, risk and hope. Instead we turn to hatred, because it's easy and convenient. To all the world leaders who are working to bring back the abductees, openly and unopenly, God bless you," she concluded.
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