Opposing Views

By: Larry Gordon

I’ve been listening to Rachel Goldberg-Polin narrate her book, When We See You Again, as I drive around. I listen in bits and pieces since I don’t drive long distances most days. Recently, we drove to Monsey and the Catskills and had the opportunity to hear her complete story, which runs around eight hours.

The heartbreak in her voice is palpable. Her son Hersh, as you may recall, was kidnapped and held hostage underground in Gaza by Hamas terrorists for almost 11 months until IDF soldiers recovered his body, which showed evidence that he’d been shot at close range by the terrorists.

It has been almost two years since Hersh’s body was found in the Gaza tunnels where he was murdered alongside five others, apparently when the terrorists were startled that the IDF was closing in on them. August 29 marks two years since the bodies of Hersh and his fellow captives were found.

At the same time, this week, President Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with Hamas leadership in Egypt. Kushner met with them as a representative of Trump’s Board of Peace, which has been charged first and foremost with disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza, now sitting in ruins.

Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin in January 2026

Credit Kremlin

It could not have been an easy or simple matter for Kushner to sit with terrorist leaders knowing that most of what they said was false. Kushner stated as much when he spoke with Fox News, saying he hopes for the best but understands that he’s talking with terrorists.

Throughout the Hamas horror show that began on October 7, 2023, we know, and even diplomats have proclaimed as such, that we are dealing with animals. The question is, have those animals changed and are they making an effort to behave like humans?

According to Kushner on Fox News, Hamas negotiators are saying “all the right things.” That’s something they learned from Iranian leaders, which is to say one thing but do something else.

For now, the stalemate that exists between Israel and Hamas is due to Israel’s insistence that Hamas disarm before Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza—a nechtiker tog. Meanwhile, Hamas is insisting that Israeli forces withdraw before they disarm.

Kushner was very forthright with the Hamas representatives, telling them that if they did not disarm over the next 30 days, the U.S. will support Israel’s effort to take care of Hamas their own way. That of course means continually wiping out their leadership militarily. Hamas reportedly asked the U.S. to get Israel to stop assassinating their leaders and the terrorists responsible for murdering Jews on October 7 and the days that followed.

Kushner told Hamas’ chief Khalil al-Hayya during what could only have been an uncomfortable two-hour meeting that Israel will have full U.S. support in eliminating Hamas terrorists if they fail to fulfill their commitments.

If you want to truly feel what it’s like to be a family member of a Hamas victim, it’s important to read or listen to Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s book. Her words will take you to the heart of the experience and make you tremble and your heart sink.

All the days of waiting for news about their son Hersh were painful and excruciating. But nothing was as bad as those first days after October 7 when so many were murdered and 250 taken hostage by the Hamas terrorists in Gaza. There was the not knowing whether their son and the others were dead or alive.

Rachel described an interview she had with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in which he told her that he was going to call her after the interview. In that call, Cooper told her he had seen a video of her son with part of his arm missing, taken on a truck and moved into Gaza.

Anderson told her the video had been recovered from a terrorist GoPro camera that was found by an Israeli soldier. Rachel and her husband Jon were partially relieved that their son was alive but concerned about his injury and what would happen next. They felt that since he was an American citizen, he might be treated differently or even better.

But if you are a Hamas terrorist and behave like a monster, that does not matter. The Goldberg-Polins traveled to New York where Rachel spoke at the UN and also to Washington, DC, where they met with White House officials. She even recalled in her book a moving phone conversation she had with President Trump.

Hamas is a proxy group of Iran and has operated as a key component of Iran’s regional network of anti-Israel allies. At least that’s the way it has been for many years, but hopefully now has stopped. That’s why those horrid Hamas leaders had no choice but to talk this week with Jared Kushner about disarming and filling those underground tunnels so they can’t be used again.

Aside from making certain that Iran cannot build a nuclear bomb, Trump’s current objective is to bankrupt Iran, which is just as important as knocking out their bridges and electronic circuitry that plunges the country into darkness.

The question now is how long President Trump will allow Iran to string him along. If they have their way, the Iranian officials said their objective is to keep delaying things all the way to the presidential election in 2028 if possible.

For now, the 60-day negotiating period has just ended and is not being renewed. The choices of the allies are to either continue with their futile negotiations or go back to war. As far as war is concerned, President Trump does not want any unnecessary loss of life, such as we have seen with the millions killed in Russia and Ukraine.

As far as the Iranian leadership is concerned, (whose identities remain cryptic) they could not care less about how many of their people are killed. To them, the more Iranians killed, the better for their world image. Whoever is governing Iran these days is running the country pretty much the same way Hamas ran Gaza. The more Palestinians that were killed, the better it was for Hamas. At least that’s what they believe.

If you want to understand the value of a human life, you must read or listen to Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s book, When We See You Again. For the Jewish people, there’s nothing more sacred than life. Hersh Goldberg-Polin loved life. We look forward to the day when his family and all of us will have the opportunity to see him again. 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.