CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The parents of Hersh Goldberg Polin, a hostage held by Hamas, took their plea for his safe return to the stage of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Wednesday night.
Jon Polin, his father, said there is a surplus of agony between Israel and Hamas — and no winners in what he described as “a competition of pain.”
Polin and his wife Rachel Goldberg took to the stage to chants of “bring them home.”
“Anyone who is a parent, or has had a parent, can try to imagine the anguish and misery that Jon and I and all of the hostage families are enduring,” Goldberg said.
The couple grew up in the Chicago area before moving to Jerusalem in 2008. Their 23-year-old son is one of eight Americans among the more than 100 hostages being currently held by Hamas.
“The youngest hostage is a 1-year-old, redheaded baby boy,” Goldberg said. “The oldest is an 86-year-old, mustachioed grandpa.”
They were the first hostage family to speak at the convention.
No families of Palestinians have addressed the group about the war, which has deeply divided Democrats.
While Goldberg and Polin spoke inside, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched blocks from the United Center to demand that the Democratic party push for an immediate ceasefire and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
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