‘Sweet Boy, Finally, Finally, You Are Free’

Rachel Goldberg-Polin said a final goodbye to her son, Hersh, on Monday before thousands of mourners gathered in a hilltop cemetery in this holy city to share the grief of parents whose long and public fight to win their child’s freedom ended in tragedy in a tunnel in Gaza.

“OK, sweet boy, go now on your journey. I hope it is as good as the trips you dreamed about because finally, my sweet boy, ­finally, finally, finally, finally you are free,” Ms Goldberg-Polin said.

Her son was 23 when he was kidnapped from a music festival during a terrorist attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Israel on October 7.

He and five other hostages were shot and killed by Hamas, days before Israeli soldiers recovered their bodies on Saturday.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s family’s activism turned them into the face of the movement to free the hostages. Although they refrained from making overtly political statements, they were clear that they believed ending the war was necessary to see their son and other hostages released.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog asked Hersh Goldberg-Polin and his family for forgiveness for failing to rescue him. He said Israel’s decision-makers must do what they could to save the rest of the hostages. “This isn’t a political goal, and it must not become a political dispute,” Mr Herzog said. “It is a supreme moral, Jewish, and human duty of the state of ­Israel to its citizens.”

Hersh’s father, Jon Polin, said the most common word he has heard since his son’s death has been “slicha”, the Hebrew word for “sorry”. “Hersh, we failed you, we all failed you,” he said.

“It tasted close. But it wasn’t to be,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said. “Those beautiful six survived ­together, and those beautiful six died together, and now they will be remembered together.”

Hersh’s left forearm was blown off in the October 7 attack but he survived for nearly a year until he was killed, according to Israeli officials. In April, a video released by Hamas showed him gaunt and with an amputated forearm, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a deal that would see him released.

Mourners came to the funeral from all over the country – many knew Hersh or his family or were members of the soccer club he supported. Others were strangers who were captivated by the family’s public fight to free their son.

Even when police blocked off the entrance to the cemetery, mourners trekked uphill on foot to find a way to attend. “I felt there was something that connected us,” said Itamar Avineri, 30, a Hapoel Jerusalem FC fan like Hersh. “I was able to feel the broader pain through his story.”

His parents said they hoped his death might mark a turning point for Israel.