Hamas Hostage's Mom Fights for Kidnapped Son amid Unthinkable Terror: 'A Haunting Message'

Billy Hallowell : Nov 1, 2023
Faithwire.com

They learned Hersh's arm from the "elbow down had been blown off" and that he had a bandage of some sort on it. Cooper's video confirmed these details for the family. "That was the last that we heard of him," Goldberg said of the video, noting it brought some peace to her husband, as the family saw their son was "in control," looked "composed" and was strong.

[Faithwire.com] The mother of a young man taken hostage by Hamas is sharing her family's harrowing journey and their hope her 23-year-old will be found alive. (Screengrab image)

Rachel Goldberg told CBN Digital her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was captured Oct. 7, while attending the Nova music festival. Video showing her son being loaded onto a Hamas vehicle after losing one of his arms confirmed accounts the family had heard about the horrors Hersh endured during the attack.

"I definitely feel like I'm living on another planet or in another parallel universe," Goldberg said of the impossible situation she and the family face. "It's just pretty much indescribable."

Goldberg has been vocal since Hamas' lethal terror attack on Israel left 1,400 Israelis dead and more than 200 were taken hostage. She has spoken with ...Joe Biden, among other Israeli and American leaders, as she desperately prays for her son's safe return.

Right now, the family has no proof of life despite holding onto hope.

The events of Oct. 7

Goldberg described the early morning hours of Oct. 7, when she first realized something was amiss. Her husband had gone to synagogue when she suddenly heard sirens.

"I was finishing a cup of tea, and then bomb sirens started to go off, which is kind of unusual in Jerusalem, which is where we live," she said. "And I ran to wake my daughters."

The family hurried into a bomb shelter inside their apartment.

Goldberg said she turned on her phone, which she doesn't normally do on the Sabbath; that's when she saw Hersh had, just minutes earlier, sent two messages through WhatsApp.

The first read, "I love you" and the second added, "I'm sorry."

"Immediately, I knew something horrible was unfolding," she said. "The second message was the haunting message, because I immediately knew he knew something was really going to hurt us, and he was apologizing for that."

Goldberg tried to call her son but to no avail. From there, she and her husband began talking with survivors of the music festival and pieced together much of what had unfolded. Later, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper reached out to the family to tell them he had footage of their son from that day... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Continue reading, and watch the video interview Here.