Hamas on Wednesday released a propaganda video showing Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who has not been seen since he was kidnapped during the terrorist group's attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Goldberg-Polin, 23, identified himself as an Israeli in the video and commented he had been held hostage for "nearly 200 days," an indication the video was recorded recently, according to The Times of Israel.
The video, which runs almost three minutes long, shows Goldberg-Polin asking the Israeli government to bring the hostages home.
The young man is missing his left arm from the elbow down. He lost his limb when Hamas terrorists attacked the Supernova rave in the Negev desert in the early hours of Oct. 7. Video from the onslaught showed Goldberg-Polin's arm was blown off when Hamas terrorists threw hand grenades into a shelter where he and others tried to hide.
Media outlets in Israel do not show hostage videos, saying they are an act of psychological warfare, according to the New York Post.
Goldberg-Polin was at the music festival with a friend and was shown on video being loaded onto a truck, with his left arm mangled from the explosion.
A media representative for Goldberg-Polin's parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, declined to speak with the press after the video of their son was released.
The video comes a few days after his family had made an impassioned plea begging he be released in time for the start of Passover.
"All of the symbolic things we do at the Seder will take on a much more profound and deep meaning this year," Goldberg told reporters.
She said the family was planning to hold their Seder, but said "if 15 minutes in, we just can't do it, and we need to cry, then we will cry."
Goldberg and Polin spoke with the Post earlier this month when six months had passed since their son and 250 other hostages were taken.
"At a certain point, we did realize that hope is mandatory, optimism is mandatory," Goldberg said. "We're trying to save our son's life, we're trying to help save the lives of all of the hostages who are still alive."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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