The mother of an Israeli-American being held hostage by Hamas joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday, just one day after a video of her son was released by Hamas after more than 200 days in captivity.
The video released by Hamas on Wednesday shows Hersh Goldberg-Polin with an amputated arm, an injury that was caused by the attack on Israeli soil on October 7th. The video includes Goldberg-Polin urging Israeli lawmakers to cut a deal for the release of the remaining hostages, and sending well-wishes to his family during the Passover holiday.
“I don’t know how to ask you this,” co-host Mika Brzezinski said to Hersh’s mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin. “Can you tell us whatever it is you’re willing to share?”
“I’m sure that anyone who is a mother or anyone who has ever had a mother in their life can imagine, this could be your son,” Goldberg-Polin replied.
“This was extremely emotional for us, obviously, to see that Hersh is alive after 201 days in these horrible conditions,” she continued. “You see that his arm, which was amputated spontaneously from a grenade attack when he was just with his friends.”
Goldberg-Polin noted that her son was attending a concert that represented “peace, love, and unity,” but “ended up with this life-altering injury.”
“It’s been nothing but trauma,” Goldberg-Polin said. “We can see he is clearly medically compromised. He is clearly medically fragile.”
Goldberg-Polin also highlighted that it was strange to see her song communicate to her in Hebrew, as their first language and main form of communication is done in English.
“According to intelligence…they believe that this was made in the last couple of days,” Goldberg-Polin added. “So this, they feel, is extremely recent.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough took the opportunity to address college campus protests over the conflict, saying “Just a reminder for all those people who are glorifying Hamas and holding up pro-Hamas signs, while Jewish students try to walk to class.”
“That’s just a reminder, once again, of October 7th,” Scarborough continued. “A son goes to a concert for peace and is attacked by terrorists and Jewish kids slaughtered.”
“There are still Jews that are being held hostage, which Hamas could end this tomorrow. Hamas could end this tomorrow if they chose to. They just don’t want to,” Scarborough concluded.
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