NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- It'll be six months on Sunday since American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was kidnapped by Hamas during its Oct. 7 terror attack in southern Israel, and his parents Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg told On The Record with Steve Scott that the world's leaders -- not just those in Israel and its closest ally, the US -- need to do more to get the hostages out of Gaza.
When asked by Scott if enough has been done to release the hostages and her Berkeley, California-born son, who had attended the Nova music festival, Goldberg said, "Well I think the obvious answer is no, because they are not home."
She added, "And I don't know it has to be political. Something that has been very heartening to us during these almost six month that whoever we speak with, whether in the administration or anyone in Congress it has been very supportive and very helpful to have people extremely on the right, Republicans extremely on the right, and Democrats extremely on the left, coming together and saying this is a bipartisan issue, this is not political, nobody here wants people held against their will. Certainly not any of the 134 and especially not the 8 US citizens who our leaders feel an allegiance to and responsibility for.
Hersh's dad broadened whose failure it is that the hostages are still in Gaza.
"What I want to point out is the world is not doing enough," Polin, who along with his wife, originally hail from the Chicago area. "Israel and the US are two of the five parties who have been in and out of the negotiation room. The other three being Hamas, Egypt and Qatar. And then there are other countries that seem to be involved behind the scenes. The fact that we as a world cannot figure this out and get these people home, is a failure of politicians, of influencers, of parents -- we have all failed."
Hersh -- who lived in Richmond, Virginia, before immigrating to Israel with his family in 2008 at the age of 7 -- was at the Nova music festival when Hamas terrorists attacked. During the attack, Hersh and friends jumped into a vehicle to escape Hamas but their vehicle was soon fired upon. They then exited the vehicle and entered a bomb shelter, his father told Scott. But Hamas gunmen threw grenades in the shelter. Hersh's good friend Aner Shapira threw several of the grenades back out, before being killed. Eyewitnesses subsequently told officials that Hersh's arm was blown off from the elbow down, but he managed to fashion himself a tourniquet for the injury. A video later showed Hersh being kidnapped and his last cell signal from his phone was from inside Gaza, his parents said.
There's no denying the mental toll speaking to the media about their son is taking on them, but Goldberg said, "It's not really a choice, to be honest. It's a very primal, innate response when anyone feels that there child is in danger -- the natural reflexive answer is run. And that is what we have done."
She added, "For 182 days, we are running as fast as we can to the ends of the Earth to turn over every single stone to try save our son Hersh and the other 133 people who are with him, and we will continue to do that until we reach our goal."
Goldberg is slated to speak at "Six Months: They Are Out Of Time," a rally on Sunday at noon across from the United Nations, at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, to demand the release of the hostages. Then she and her husband will continue to Washington to meet with lawmakers there.
