« Before Oct. 7, you always sought ways to make the world around you better, » Goldberg-Polin’s father Jon Polin told the thousands who had gathered for the funeral. « Since Oct. 7, you have become a global symbol for bringing improvement to our world. »
Thousands gathered in Jerusalem to mourn Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage with Chicago ties who was held for nearly a year and killed by Hamas last week.
Goldberg-Polin, 23, was taken hostage while attending the Nova Music Festival when Hamas militant groups attacked Israel, taking 251 people hostage and killing around 1,200 people.
Since then, Goldberg-Polin has become one of the best-known hostages, as his parents and Chicago natives Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, have met numerous times with world leaders to beg for help in bringing their son and other hostages home. They also spoke at last month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
At the funeral held Monday at a cemetery in Jerusalem, Goldberg and Polin; their daughters Libi and Orli; Israeli President Isaac Herzog and others eulogized Goldberg-Polin.
“Before Oct. 7, you always sought ways to make the world around you better,” Polin said. “Since Oct. 7, you have become a global symbol for bringing improvement to our world.”
An emphatic push to bring the remaining 101 hostages home rang through the eulogies.
