Mother of Slain Oct. 7 Hostage Rachel Goldberg-Polin Speaks for Terror Victims at UN

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of slain Gaza hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, addressed the United Nations on Friday as a representative of Middle Eastern victims of terrorism, marking the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.

“My name is Rachel,” she began, “and I will always be the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.”

Her prerecorded video remarks aimed to highlight the plight of Israeli terror victims, recounting how her son Hersh lost his arm after being seized by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023.

“Hersh will always be my only son,” she said. “Hersh will always be my eldest child, and Hersh will always be 23 years old.”

She became the first Israeli to fill this role, a position that has recently been held by Palestinians, and her testimony was presented alongside those of other terrorism victims worldwide.

The annual UN observance on August 21, created by a 2017 General Assembly resolution, aims to honor and support terrorism victims and survivors while promoting their human rights and fundamental freedoms, as noted on the UN website.

Hersh’s ordeal at the hands of Hamas

Rachel recounted the ordeal her son endured at the hands of Hamas, as well as her own anguish as his mother during his kidnapping, captivity, and ultimate murder.

“My son was executed at close range and returned to me after 330 days,” said Rachel. “That body that I had carried in my body for nine months, many moons ago. That body and soul, that I had adored and beheld.”

She then referenced the 1932 exchange between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud at the League of Nations concerning the roots of human warfare.

“Freud explains that we humans continue to engage in active conflict even though the vast majority of us suffer terribly from this way of existence,” she said. “Civilization has to decide whether to rise to the challenge to continually contain our natural tendencies toward war, or to give that slavery of selfish interest to give into it.”

“What Freud inheritely is inherently saying is that there are people on both sides of any conflict whose drive toward destruction of the other is exactly the same and therefore, ironically, those destructive entities on opposing sides in fact have more in common with each other than the very people they claim to represent,” she continued, noting that the same is true, acording to Freud, for the victims in war, whose motivations are “hope, and life, and love.”

A blessing and a warning for humanity

She concluded her remarks with “a blessing and a warning,” praying that human civilization will use its “wisdom, strength and might to do what is right.”

“The choice is hard, but the choice is ours,” she said. “Shall we take the easy way out and follow blindly? Even as we march ourselves right over a cliff? Or shall we push ourselves to live up to the most elevated challenges and goals that are presented?”

Rachel’s participation in the UN ceremony represents a significant advance for Israel’s campaign to secure international acknowledgment of Israeli terror victims, including those affected by the October 7 attack.

Israel’s UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, praised Rachel’s remarks and her role, stating that the country’s mission will keep striving to ensure Israeli terrorism victims receive the recognition they merit at the UN and that their stories remain unforgettable.

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