War in Israel: Missing man's mom feels ‘heard’ after Blinken meeting

War in Israel: Missing man’s mom feels ‘heard’ by Blinken

Antony Blinken met with families of missing Americans in Israel
Rescue operation could be complex, due to Gaza's tunnel system
Couple with five missing relatives: kidnappings were act of 'evil'

Updated: Oct 12, 2023 / 10:38 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — The mother of an American man missing from Israel says she feels “heard” by Secretary of State Antony Blinken but is uncertain about the overall prospects for the return of her son.

Rachel Goldberg was among those who met with Blinken on Thursday in Israel about what U.S. authorities are doing to rescue the more than a dozen Americans who were taken captive during Hamas’ assault on Israel.

“We really feel embraced and heard,” Goldberg said in an interview aired Thursday on “CUOMO.” “I think that they have a lot of plans and they’re not really in a situation where they can share the plan.”

Goldberg and her husband Jonathan Polin are hoping for the return of their son Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who went missing Saturday from a music festival close to the border with Gaza. Militants stormed the gathering and fired indiscriminately, killing at least 260 people.

Any rescue operation could be complicated by Hamas’ massive tunnel network that runs underneath Gaza City, a likely holding place.

While officials couldn’t reveal what, if anything, they know about the location of the hostages, Goldberg said the meeting was overall helpful and reassuring.

“We’re all trying to walk through this and have a brave face and get done what we need to get done to try to save our loved ones,” Goldberg said. “In there, it was almost, you know, this cocoon of support of people who really know (what’s happening). No one was sympathizing, everyone was empathizing.”

Also in the room was Abbey Onn and her husband, Oded. The couple, who moved to Israel from Massachusetts eight years ago, have five family members who are missing.

“I have to believe that this was evil,” Abbey Onn said of the kidnappings and attack.

The family is trying to stay “as proactive and active as possible.”

She said she hopes people will not conflate the actions of Hamas militants with that of Palestinian civilians.

“This is not the Palestinian-Israeli issue. This is an issue of terrorism. Hamas is a terror organization, and we want the international community to be able to differentiate between the two,” Onn said. “We know as Americans, this is a hard issue. They’re not the same. This is terror in the same way that (al-Qaida) was terror for us 20 years ago.”