Mother of murdered Israeli hostage represents terror victims at UN, urges world to reject ‘destructive’ forces

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of murdered Oct. 7 hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, represented victims of terrorism from the Middle East at the United Nations on Friday during the annual International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.

The UN General Assembly established the observance in 2017 to “honor and support the victims and survivors of terrorism and to promote and protect the full enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

"My name is Rachel," she began in a recorded video message, "and I will always be the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin."

"My son was executed at close range and returned to me after 330 days," Rachel said. "That body that I had carried in my body for nine months, many moons ago. That body and soul, that I had adored and beheld."

"Hersh will always be my only son. Hersh will always be my eldest child, and Hersh will always be 23 years old."

Her son, a dual American-Israeli citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at the Nova Music Festival during the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. Hamas later murdered Hersh, along with five other hostages, in captivity. In September 2024, Israeli forces recovered their bodies from a Hamas tunnel in Gaza. Hersh’s remains were returned to his family and buried in Jerusalem in a funeral attended by thousands of Israelis.

Following her painful personal account, Rachel addressed the prevalence of conflict in human history by referring to a 1932 correspondence between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. "Freud explains that we humans continue to engage in active conflict even though the vast majority of us suffer terribly from this way of existence," she said. "Civilization has to decide whether to rise to the challenge to continually contain our natural tendencies toward war, or to give that slavery of selfish interest to give into it."

"What Freud is inherently saying is that there are people on both sides of any conflict whose drive toward destruction of the other is exactly the same and therefore, ironically, those destructive entities on opposing sides in fact have more in common with each other than the very people they claim to represent," she argued. In contrast, Rachel said the victims in war are motivated by "hope, and life, and love."

Rachel called on humanity to make a choice based on the "wisdom, strength and might to do what is right."

"The choice is hard, but the choice is ours," she said. "Shall we take the easy way out and follow blindly, even as we march ourselves right over a cliff? Or shall we push ourselves to live up to the most elevated challenges and goals that are presented?"

The Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Dannon hailed Rachel’s remarks and vowed that Israel's UN mission "will continue working to ensure that Israeli victims of terrorism are given the recognition they deserve at the UN and that their stories are never forgotten.”

Rachel and her husband, Jon Polin, became prominent global voices in the campaign to secure the release of all living hostages and the return of those who were killed in Hamas captivity.

Earlier this year, Rachel released her memoir “When We See You Again,” which addresses her family’s pain and loss following the kidnapping and murder of their son Hersh.