American-Israeli hostage family, Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, expected to speak at DNC tonight
CHICAGO — Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, the most prominent American-Israeli relatives of hostages held in Gaza, are expected to speak at the Democratic National Convention tonight in what would be the most prominent — and potentially controversial — showcase of Israel and the war on the convention’s mainstage.
Their appearance would provide a counterpoint to the powerful appearance at last month’s Republican convention by Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of hostage Omar Neutra, who led the crowd in Milwaukee in chants of “Bring them home!” Here in Chicago, only a handful of Democratic speakers have mentioned the hostages or the broader war from the podium, and platforming hostage families could draw the ire of the party’s far-left flank, which has been harshly critical of the Biden-Harris administration’s support of Israel’s prosecution of the war.
Sharon Cinnamon of the Facebook group Jewish Women for Kamala Harris confirmed that the couple is slated to speak at 6:30 p.m. Central time on Wednesday.
The Uncommitted movement, which has 30 delegates here representing the 700,000 voters who cast “uncommitted” ballots in Democratic primaries this spring, used the news to further advocate for its demand to put a Palestinian-American politician on the podium.
“Uncommitted delegates urge the Democratic Party to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage,” the group said in a statement Wednesday. “We are learning that Israeli hostages’ families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who’ve endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948.”
DNC officials and a representative for the Goldberg-Polins would not confirm the speaking slot. A spokesperson for the Harris campaign said he had “nothing to share at this moment.”
The Goldberg-Polins’ son, Hersh, was abducted during the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7 after his left hand was blown off by a grenade thrown into a roadside bomb shelter where he was hiding alongside other attendees of the Nova music festival near Gaza. A diehard soccer fan and music aficionado, he is perhaps the best-known hostage in the U.S., and one of eight American citizens among the 100-plus hostages still in Gaza.
Who is Rachel Goldberg-Polin?
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, a soft-spoken teacher, quickly became the face of the hostage movement after Oct. 7, meeting with President Joe Biden and the pope, speaking at the United Nations in Geneva and a pro-Israel rally in Washington, D.C., and doing countless media interviews and briefings for synagogue groups. She and her husband grew up in Chicago — they first met at an Orthodox middle school — and moved to Jerusalem in 2008, when Hersh was 7.
She wears a piece of masking tape on her shirt with the number of days since Hersh was taken, which has become an iconic symbol of the crisis for American Jews. Yesterday, day 319, the Bring Hersh Home Facebook group shared a photo of the tape saying “TOO MANY.”
What have the hostage families been doing at the DNC?
The couple is among at least six families of Israeli hostages, including the Neutras, who have been attending events around the DNC in Chicago this week. Matt Krieger, a spokesperson for the family, declined to comment on whether the couple would be speaking tonight, but said they were not doing interviews on Wednesday — after previously saying they would be available all week.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the head of the pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street, said he had been told a hostage family would be among the roster of speakers Wednesday night but was not sure which one. Leaders of other Jewish Democratic groups and spokespeople for the DNC declined to comment.
Ruby Chen, whose son, Itay, was among the 1,200 people in Israel killed on Oct. 7 and whose remains are being held by Hamas, appeared at the New York delegates’ breakfast on Tuesday morning. There, according to Jewish Insider, he posed for a picture with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and was praised by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who asked for “a hope and a prayer” that negotiations underway with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken would “bring home those hostages alive, and the bodies of those who unfortunately passed away.”
“Ruby,” Schumer said, “we are with you guys. Let’s have a round of applause for this man’s strength and courage and everything that he has done.” Chen told the Forward that “the hostages need to stay bipartisan and we need to get this to the finish line.” He said Ocasio-Cortez agreed to sit down and meet with him and relatives of the American hostages.
At Wednesday’s Democratic Majority for Israel lunch, Chen gave the Biden administration an A+ for effort. “But we need to look at the bottom line … And the US government has an obligation, legal obligation, lawful obligation, whatever you want to call it, to get these citizens out of harm’s way,” he said.
“We, the families, wish as much as possible not to politicize this conflict that we have, this tragedy, into the US politics, and we as much as possible try to keep away and decouple the tragedy that has happened to us to the bigger Palestinian question,” Chen said. “You know, we have a lot of protesters that are trying to couple the two topics together, but we have a much different viewpoint, and I hope that you share that with us.”
The Neutras attended a lunch Tuesday hosted by the Orthodox group Agudath Israel, and Wednesday morning’s “Dempalooza” panel discussing American Jews after Oct. 7. At a breakfast for the New York delegation on Wednesday morning, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York acknowledged the Neutras and asked for a moment of silence.
At Wednesday’s DMFI lunch, Orna Neutra, mother of Omer, said, “We’ve had amazing access to the administration with ongoing calls from the National Security Advisor. We feel like we’re part of a team, but we’re not there yet, and our son is still there, and we need to make sure that everyone is doing everything that they can to secure the release of the eight American hostages.”
Israel and the war at the DNC
After months in which the Israel-Hamas war has roiled the Democratic Party, it has been largely absent from the convention. Turnout for pro-Palestinian protests was far smaller than predicted, though there have been a handful of arrests, outside the convention on Monday and the Israeli consulate on Tuesday, and one protester managed to unfurl a “Stop Arming Israel” banner during Biden’s speech Monday night; he was quickly removed from the hall.
Ocasio-Cortez, the leader of the so-called Squad that had been the harshest critics of Israel in Congress, was the unlikely first person to mention the hostages from the stage, saying that Vice President Kamala Harris would secure a ceasefire and bring them home. Biden himself said something similar later on Monday night. But none of the mainstage speeches have included proclamations of Israel’s right to defend itself, condemnations of Hamas, or celebrations of the U.S.-Israel alliance, mainstays of prior such gatherings.
The post American-Israeli hostage family, Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, expected to speak at DNC tonight appeared first on The Forward.
from The Forward https://ift.tt/bs2Klm8
Comments
Post a Comment