Our guest this week is Jonathan Polin of Jerusalem, Israel who is a serial entrepreneur, father of three, including son, Hersh, who very tragically was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas led attacks on Israel.    

This episode was recorded on August 29, 2024, day #328 since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 (mostly civilians from 23 countries) and taking more than 220 hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin. 

Jonathan and his wife, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, both born and raised in Chicago, have been married for 27 years and are the proud parents of two daughters: Leebi and Orly as well as Hersh (23), who shockingly lost his left hand and forearm in a grenade explosion during the October 7th attacks. 

Quite tragically, Hersh’s best friend, Aner Shapira, lost his life on October 7th protecting fellow concert goers, by deflecting seven Hamas grenades thrown into an above ground bomb shelter, before he was shot and killed.

Jon and Rachel have become outspoken advocates on behalf of all the hostages and thrust into the lime-light, meeting with members of the United Nations in Geneva, meeting with Pope Francis as well as U.S. President Joe Biden and more recently, they appeared on stage, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 21st.  

Days after this interview was recorded, we learned that the IDF recovered the bodies of six hostages, including Hersh, who had been executed within the past 24-48 hours. 

On September 2nd, while eulogizing Hersh, at his funeral, Jonathan said “We failed you, we all failed you.  Maybe your death is the stone, the fuel, that will bring home the 101 other hostages.”

The Goldberg-Polin story is about and an ordinary American-Israeli family swept up into the most recent chapter of the Middle-East conflict and how through grit and steadfast determination they conducted themselves, to rescue their son and all the October 7th hostages. 

Email – [email protected]
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-polin-9824571/
Personal Website - https://www.theimpactguy.com/
Israeli Network for Life Enhancing Technologies (INLET) – https://www.inlet.co.il/
DNC Speech From August, 21, 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PleW3qZSxQ
Hamas Released Video Hersh Goldberg-Polin May 2024 -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJeOoeCDgKw
YouTube - Anderson Cooper's Connection To Hersh Goldberg-Polin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEW8H34zEGw
Hostage & Missing Families Forum - https://stories.bringthemhomenow.net/
Shalva – https://www.shalva.org/
Parent Circle - https://www.theparentscircle.org/en/homepage-en/

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