Hamas released a propaganda video on Wednesday showing American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, proving that he is alive — with the hope of pressuring the Israeli government to give up the war as part of a hostage deal.
The video is the latest in a series of videos that Hamas has released in which it shows emaciated, suffering hostages, reading scripted accusations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accusing him of neglect.
The Israeli media refuses to share the videos, since they are Hamas propaganda videos in which the hostages appear under duress, but they spread on social media regardless. Breitbart News has seen the video but will not post it.
Goldberg-Polin was maimed in the October 7 terror attack, losing his left hand to a Hamas grenade as he hid among other victims in a bomb shelter near the site of the Supernova music festival in southern Israel.
He has become one of the iconic faces of the hostages, 133 of whom remain in Gaza. “Free Hirsh” graffiti appears all over Jerusalem.
The Biden administration does not appear to be taking any action to free or rescue the hostages, among whom are several Americans.
A display of hostage photos has gone up opposite anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.
Update: Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, released a statement Wednesday reacting to the Hamas video:
Seeing the video of Hersh today is overwhelming. We are relieved to see him alive but we are also concerned about his health and wellbeing as well as that of all the other hostages and all of those suffering in this region. We are here today with a plea to all of the leaders of the parties who have been negotiating to date. This includes Qatar, Egypt, the United States, Hamas and Israel: be brave, lean in, seize this moment and get a deal done to reunite all of us with our loved ones and end the suffering in this region. Hersh, we heard your voice today for the first time in 201 days and if you can hear us, we are telling you, we love you, stay strong, survive.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.