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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.”
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Iran Moves to Restore Ties With Bahrain, Egypt Amid Rising Middle East Tensions
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Iran has begun efforts to restore diplomatic relations with Bahrain and Egypt, signaling a potential shift in regional alliances as tensions escalate across the Middle East.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that Iran has officially begun the process of restoring diplomatic ties with Bahrain and Egypt after years of strained relations.
Since Iran normalized relations with Saudi Arabia in 2023, Araghchi said Tehran has made several requests to renew ties with Bahrain, with ongoing efforts expected to soon yield positive results.
In 2016, Bahrain severed diplomatic ties with Iran, following Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut relations after an attack on its embassy in Tehran, which was sparked by Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric.
In 2023, Tehran and Riyadh reached an agreement in Beijing to restore diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies and diplomatic missions.
Since then, the Islamic Republic has taken further steps to strengthen its relationship with Bahrain. Last year, Araghchi met with Bahrain’s King, Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, in the country’s capital to discuss bilateral ties and the latest regional developments.
Bahrain normalized relations with Israel, which Iranian leaders regularly say they seek to destroy, in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords.
As for Egypt, the country severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in 1980 following Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution and Egypt’s recognition of Israel.
Araghchi said ties between the two countries have strengthened significantly, with regular high-level meetings and continuous dialogue.
Iran’s expanding relationship with Egypt comes at a time of increased tension between Cairo and Jerusalem, amid Israeli accusations that Egypt has violated their peace agreement.
Israeli defense officials have previously expressed growing concern over Cairo’s military buildup and armed presence in the Sinai Peninsula.
These concerns come amid escalating tensions between Israel and Egypt since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, particularly over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, where Cairo has demanded Jerusalem withdraw its forces.
While details about Egypt’s military buildup remain unclear, “satellite images have shown the movement of tanks and battalions that exceed the limits set by the Camp David Accords,” Mariam Wahba, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told The Algemeiner.
Under the 1979 peace treaty, Egypt can request permission from Israel to deploy more than the 47 battalions allowed. However, some estimates suggest that there are currently camps for 180 battalions.
“The Camp David Accords have long been a pillar of peace and stability in the Middle East,” Wahba explained. “A breakdown of the agreement would have serious implications, not just for Israel and Egypt but for the broader region. It could embolden actors like Iran and its proxies to exploit tensions and could lead to increased militarization along Israel’s southern border.”
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EU to Review Agreement With Israel Over Gaza Concerns, Kallas Says
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas attends a press conference with Moldova’s President Maia Sandu following their meeting in Chisinau, Moldova, April 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Vladislav Culiomza
The European Union will review a pact governing its political and economic ties with Israel due to the “catastrophic” situation in Gaza, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday after a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers.
International pressure on Israel has mounted in recent days amid complaints about the lack of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza and as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government launched a new military offensive against the Hamas terrorist group in the enclave.
Kallas said a “strong majority” of the ministers meeting in Brussels favored such a review of the agreement with Israel, known as an association agreement, in light of events in Gaza.
Diplomats said 17 of 27 EU members backed the review, which will focus on whether Israel is complying with a human rights clause in the agreement, and was proposed by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.
“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The aid that Israel has allowed in is of course welcomed, but it’s a drop in the ocean. Aid must flow immediately, without obstruction and at scale, because this is what is needed,” Kallas told reporters.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the EU decision. Israeli officials have said their operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel. Hamas also kidnapped several hostages that Israel is trying to free from captivity in Gaza.
Under the pact, which came into force in 2000, the EU and Israel agreed that their relationship “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy.”
In a letter proposing a review, Veldkamp raised concerns about Israeli policies “exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation.”
He also cited “statements by Israeli cabinet members about a permanent presence that alludes to a reoccupation of (parts of) the Gaza Strip, Syria and Lebanon” and a “further worsening of the situation in the West Bank.”
On Tuesday, Dutch minister Veldkamp called the review “a very important and powerful signal,” echoing sentiments of officials from France and Ireland.
But others did not back a review. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky suggested the bloc could hold a meeting with Israel under the association agreement to raise concerns.
Kallas said EU sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank had been prepared but have so far been blocked by one member state. Diplomats said that country was Hungary.
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Syrian Leadership Approved Return of Executed Spy Eli Cohen’s Belongings to Israel, Sources Say
Nadia, widow of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, looks at photographs depicting her late husband during an interview with Reuters in Herzliya, Israel, Oct. 6, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Syria’s leadership approved the handover of the belongings of long-dead spy Eli Cohen to Israel in a bid to ease Israeli hostility and show goodwill to US President Donald Trump, three sources told Reuters.
Israel announced its recovery of the trove of documents, photographs, and personal possessions relating to Cohen on Sunday, saying its spy agency Mossad had worked with an unnamed foreign intelligence agency to secure the material.
However, a Syrian security source, an adviser to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and a person familiar with backchannel talks between the countries said the archive of material was in fact offered to Israel as an indirect gesture by Sharaa as he seeks to cool tensions and build Trump’s confidence.
Cohen, who was hanged in 1965 in a downtown Damascus square after infiltrating Syria’s political elite, is still regarded as a hero in Israel and Mossad’s most celebrated spy for uncovering military secrets that aided its lightning victory in the 1967 Middle East war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Cohen on Sunday as a legend and “the greatest intelligence agent in the annals of the state.”
While Israel has long sought to recover his body for reburial at home, the return of his archive held for 60 years by Syrian intelligence was hailed by Mossad as “an achievement of the highest moral order.”
Israel has not publicly revealed how the archive came into its possession, saying only that it was the result of “a covert and complex Mossad operation, in cooperation with an allied foreign intelligence service.”
Netanyahu’s office, Syrian officials, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Syria’s role in Israel‘s recovery of the Cohen archive.
COHEN DOSSIER
After rebels led by Sharaa suddenly ousted President Bashar al-Assad in December, ending his family’s 54-year-long rule, they found the Cohen dossier in a state security building, according to the Syrian security source.
Sharaa and his foreign advisers quickly decided to use the material as leverage, the source added.
The Syrian security source said Sharaa had realized that the Cohen archive was important to the Israelis and that its return could amount to a significant diplomatic gesture.
Ending Israeli attacks on Syria and improving relations with the United States and other Western countries are vital for Sharaa as he seeks to revive his shattered country after 14 years of civil war.
Israel regards Sharaa and his ex-insurgents, who once formed the al Qaeda faction in Syria, as unreconstructed jihadists. Israeli forces staged an incursion into border areas last year and have repeatedly bombed targets in support of Syria’s minority Druze sect.
This month, Reuters reported that the United Arab Emirates had set up a backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria that included efforts to build confidence between the sides.
There have also been other indirect channels for talks, according to two people familiar with the matter.
In the talks, Syria agreed to measures including returning the remains of Cohen as well as three Israeli soldiers killed while fighting Syrian forces in Lebanon in the early 1980s, a person familiar with those talks said. The body of one of those soldiers, Zvi Feldman, has been returned, Israel said last week.
The return of the Cohen archive came in the context of those confidence-building measures and was done with Sharaa’s direct approval, the person said.
Last week, Trump held a surprise meeting with Sharaa in Saudi Arabia where he urged him to normalize ties with Israel and announced that he would lift sanctions on Syria.
Syrian officials have said they want peace with all states in the region, and Sharaa confirmed this month that Damascus had carried out indirect talks with Israel via states it has ties with in order to calm the situation.
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