Rachel Goldberg-Pollin (born 1969 or 1970) is an American-Israeli activist, primarily focused on resolving the hostage crisis which began with the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. She began her activism after her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was shot and abducted by Hamas while attending the Re’im Music Festival.
Goldberg-Pollin's son, Hersh, was kidnapped and abducted to the Gaza Strip during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. [1] Following her son's abduction, she quit her job [2] to focus full-time on working towards freeing the hostages, and has since spoken to both political authorities and media organziations, including the BBC , [3] CBS , [4] NBC , [5] and TheWall Street Journal. [6] Specifically, she has called for the Israeli government to negotiate a hostage deal, and has criticized leaders for "not doing enough" to bring the hostages home. [7] [8] In daily life, she has attempted to draw attention to the hostage crisis by putting tape on her clothing, on which she writes the number of days since October 7. [9] [2]
On November 14, 2023, she attended the March for Israel rally in Washington, D.C., and spoke about the plight of all the 240 hostages from countries all around the World Rachel Goldberg-Polin speaking November 14, 2023.. [10]
In December 2023, she gave a seven-minute speech at the United Nations in Geneva. [11]
In February 2024, Goldberg-Pollin and 11 other hostage families met with the Pope. [12]
In early April 2024, Goldberg-Pollin, her husband, and other family members of hostages met with United States Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan, to urge action on a hostage deal. [13]
Rachel Goldberg was raised in Chicago. [1]
Goldberg-Pollin, her husband, Jonathan, and their three children moved to Israel in the early 2000s. [9] [2] They have lived in Jerusalem since 2008. [1] She is an observent Jew who keeps kosher. [1] [12]
Gilad Shalit is a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who, on 25 June 2006, was captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border. Hamas held him captive for over five years until his release on 18 October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal.
Ismail Haniyeh is a Palestinian politician who is seen as the overall political leader of Hamas, the de facto ruling entity of the Gaza Strip. He is the current chairman of Hamas’s political bureau; as of 2023, Haniyeh lives in Qatar.
Yahya Sinwar, also spelled Yehya Sinwar, is a Palestinian politician who has been leader of Hamas, the Sunni Islamist political and military organization that rules the Gaza Strip, since 2017.
The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. It began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. After clearing the militants from its territory, the Israeli military embarked on an extensive aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip followed by a large-scale ground invasion beginning on 27 October. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon border. The fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, it is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War 50 years earlier.
Vivian Silver was a Canadian-Israeli peace activist and women's rights activist. She was killed during the Be'eri massacre, a part of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
On 7 October 2023, the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas initiated a surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 364 civilians were killed and many more wounded by Hamas at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re'im. At least 40 hostages were also taken. This mass killing had the largest number of casualties out of a number of massacres targeting Israeli civilians in villages adjacent to the Gaza Strip, that occurred as part of the 7 October attack, alongside those at the moshavim of Netiv HaAsara, Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz and Holit.
On 7 October 2023, around 70 Hamas militants attacked Kfar Aza, a kibbutz about 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) from the border with the Gaza Strip, massacring residents and abducting several hostages.
On 7 October 2023, as part of the Hamas-led attack on Israel at the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups abducted 253 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip, including children, women, and elderly people. In addition to hostages with only Israeli citizenship, almost half of the hostages are foreign nationals or have multiple citizenships. Some hostages were Negev Bedouins. The precise ratio of soldiers and civilians among the captives is unknown. The captives are likely being held in different locations in the Gaza Strip.
On 7 October 2023, as part of the surprise attack on Israel, Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas, invaded the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel. They killed scores of kibbutz residents, burned homes, and abducted civilians. According to the Israeli military, up to 150 militants participated in the massacre.
On 7 October 2023, the Hamas Nuseirat Battalion attacked Nir Yitzhak, a kibbutz close to the border fence with the Gaza Strip, as part of a surprise attack on Israel.
On 7 October 2023, 25-year-old Israeli woman Noa Argamani was abducted by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre, part of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. In one of the first Hamas videos released of the massacre, she was seen being abducted by motorcycle as she yells, "Don't kill me!" Her arms are outstretched toward her boyfriend Avinatan Or, who was also being kidnapped. The footage of her kidnapping, became a symbol of the hostage crisis and has led to Argamani being described as "the face of the Nova music festival hostages". Despite other hostages being released during a ceasefire in November 2023, Argamani remained captive.
On 7 October 2023, 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin was wounded and abducted by Hamas from the Re'im music festival massacre, part of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
During the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israeli women and girls were reportedly subject to sexual violence, including rape and sexual assault by Hamas or other Gazan militants. The militants involved in the attack are accused of having committed acts of gender-based violence, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Hamas has denied that its fighters committed rape and assault against women.
During the Israel–Hamas war, a series of exchanges were made between Israel and Hamas to exchange militant-held hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The negotiations were brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, and were part of a broader temporary ceasefire agreement. In Israel the deal was called "Operation Heaven's Door", and the subprogram for the rehabilitation of foreign citizens was called "Operation "Friendly Hand".
On 7 October 2023, as part of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the Nir Oz massacre, the Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas abducted the Israeli-Argentinian/Peruvian Bibas family from the Nir Oz kibbutz. The youngest child, baby Kfir, was the youngest hostage taken in the 7 October 2023 attacks. Shiri's parents, abducted from their kibbutz, were later found murdered. Amidst widespread concern and a campaign for their release, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas transferred the family to a different Palestinian terror group within Gaza. Efforts to release Shiri and her children during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas were unsuccessful; Hamas later claimed that they were killed as a result of an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis.
On 7 October 2023, 21-year-old French-Israeli woman Mia Schem was abducted by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre, part of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Her abduction, a video of her in captivity in Gaza, and subsequent release on 30 November garnered international media attention, and she became a face of the hostage crisis during the Israel–Hamas war.
The rescue of Ori Megidish was an Israel Defense Forces military operation on 30 October 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza that led to the rescue of Israeli soldier Uri Magidish from Hamas imprisonment in Gaza to Israel. Megidish was rescued in a joint operation between the IDF and the Israeli Shin Bet, based on specific intelligence of her whereabouts. Two Hamas militants were killed during the operation.
Naama Levy is an Israeli woman serving in the Israel Defence Forces. On the morning of 7 October 2023, during the Hamas attack on Israel, Palestinian terrorists abducted her from the Nahal Oz kibbutz military base. Later that day, she was filmed with her hands tied behind her back as armed terrorists dragged her from the trunk of a Jeep and forced her inside the vehicle. One of the first viral videos of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, the footage showed Levy with multiple visible injuries, including a gash on her Achilles tendon and a large bloodstain on the seat of her gray sweatpants, which led to widespread concern that she had been raped or sexually assaulted. Images from Levy's abduction have since come to symbolize sexual violence against Israeli women. As of April 2024, she is presumed to be among the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and her family continue efforts to secure her release.
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