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Mother of Murdered American-Israeli Hostage Declares ‘Finally, You’re Free!’ as Thousands Gather for Funeral

Mourners gather in Jerusalem for the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Taken by author

The mother of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin eulogized her son in front of thousands of mourners at his funeral in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon with the exclamation that he was finally set free.

“OK sweet boy, go now on your journey. I hope it’s as good as the trips you dreamed about,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said, addressing her deceased 23-year-old son, an avid traveler.

Her voice cracking, she added, “Finally, sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, you’re free!”

“One thing I keep thinking about is how out of all the mothers in all the entire world, God chose to give Hersh to me. What must I have done in a past life to deserve such a beautiful gift?” she said.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was born in the United States and moved to Israel at age 7, was abducted on Oct. 7 while at the Nova music festival with his best friend, Aner Shapiro. Shapiro, who fielded three grenades from the roadside bomb shelter the two were hiding in, was one of 1,200 people killed that day by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists. Apart from Goldberg-Polin, 250 others were kidnapped to Gaza.

Goldberg-Polin’s body was found along with five other hostages over the weekend in a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Hamas terrorists had executed them prior to a raid by Israeli forces.

“Those beautiful six survived together and those beautiful six died together. And now they will be remembered together forever,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said of her son, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.

Addressing her son, she went on: “You had lost your arm, and you thought you were dying. And you wrote to us, I’m sorry, because you knew how crushing it would be for us. So you fought to stay alive, and now you are gone.”

“Now I no longer have to worry about you; you are no longer in danger. You are with beautiful Aner. I hope he will show you around,” she added.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin delivering a eulogy at her son’s funeral in Jerusalem on Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Taken by author

Thousands of people gathered at the Har Menuchot cemetery in the fringes of Jerusalem. Many more hundreds lined the streets of the capital city holding Israeli flags as the family accompanied Goldberg-Polin to his final resting place. The funeral was also livestreamed and viewed by 17,000 people.

The eulogies were delivered in near pin-drop silence, broken only by the occasional, heart-wrenching cries from the crowd.

“It’s so hard to be here, but how can you not?” one mourner, Hezi Fried, told The Algemeiner. “I didn’t know him, but I feel like I did. Everyone did.”

The sentiment was echoed in Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s eulogy. “We didn’t know you in life, but you live inside us,” Herzog said.

“Our hearts, already broken, are now shattered into a million pieces,” he said.

Herzog also expressed his regret at the country’s failure to bring the hostages home alive.

“I apologize on behalf of the State of Israel, that we failed to protect you in the terrible disaster of Oct. 7, and that we failed to bring you home safely,” he said.

Herzog compared the “pure barbaric evil” of Hamas to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who, he said, “taught the world about dignity” and “touched all of humanity deeply.”

Hersh’s father, Jon Goldberg, remarked that the most common refrain he had seen and heard from people since his son’s murder was “sorry.”

“We failed you. We all failed you. You would not have failed you,” he said. “What you would be pushing now is to ensure that your death and the deaths of all the soldiers was not for nothing.”

In her own eulogy, his wife thanked her community and well-wishers around the world who “prayed for us, cooked for us, cared for us when we could not stand up.”

“I’m so thankful to you, and I apologize deeply, but we’re going now to need continued help to get through this sickening new chapter,” she said. “And I’m so sorry to ask because we’ve given you nothing, and you have already given us profoundly and completely for 11 months.”

Mourner Rebecca, who did not know the family, said she felt “crushed with guilt” at Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s words.

“She says that but I don’t feel it’s true; she gave us everything. She was the one who held us all up instead of the other way around,” she said.

In between sobs, she continued, “How can we as a community ever do enough or be strong enough for this amazing family?”

Mourners gather in Jerusalem for the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Taken by author

Eden Danino, who traveled from the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, said he had made it to three of the hostages’ funerals since Sunday. “It was heartbreaking to be there. We just never, ever thought it would end like this. I was so sure they would come home.”

The murders triggered nationwide protests and general strikes across the country on Sunday evening and throughout Monday, with many demanding a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the war in Hamas-ruled Gaza launched by the Oct. 7 massacre.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin expressed her gratitude to God for the “most stunning honor to be [your] mama.”

“But now my worry shifts to us,” she continued. “How do we live the rest of our life without you? I know you’re right here. I just have to teach myself how to feel you in a different way. One last thing I need you to do for us now. I need you to help us stay strong, to help us survive.”

The post Mother of Murdered American-Israeli Hostage Declares ‘Finally, You’re Free!’ as Thousands Gather for Funeral first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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