BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) — Hundreds gathered in Berkeley to mourn the loss of six hostages killed by Hamas, including Bay Area native Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
“Hersh grew up in this community, as a young toddler he was born in the East Bay,” said Rabbi Yonatan Cohen. “His first friends, his first steps were taken in Berkeley and his first prayers were uttered in this holy congregation.”
The 23-year-old was one of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7th attack on a music festival in southern Israel.
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“It’s awful, devastating. It’s not the way we expected this would end,” said Aaron Katler, a close family friend.
Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the Oct. 7 attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him, his left hand missing and clearly speaking under duress, sparking new protests in Israel at the time, urging the government to do more to secure his and others’ freedom.
His parents had made impassioned pleas for his safe return, including last month at the Democratic National Convention.
“We live on another planet,” his mom, Rachel Goldberg-Polin said at the DNC. “Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that John and I and all the hostage families are enduring.”
Jonathan Mintzer is Senior Director of Government Affairs with JCRC Bay Area and mourned the loss for his parents.
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On Sunday, friends and supporters of Berkeley native Hersh Goldberg-Polin gathered on the pedestrian overpass above I-80 near University Avenue.
“The pain they’ve been going through for almost eleven months was so clear and obvious and now to hear the most tragic and horrific of news for them is so sad and we’re sending them all our strength,” Mintzer said.
Some of that strength is being sent in messages written for the family, now living in Israel.
Aaron Katler is a close family friend and will be traveling to Israel this week, with those messages in hand.
“Rachel, his mother, Hersh’s mother, has said the entire time that hope is mandatory,” Katler said. “The only alternative to hope is despair, so you have to stay on the side of hope.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s funeral was held Monday in Jerusalem.
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