CHICAGO, Illinois — Delegates to the Democratic National Convention rose to their feet Wednesday as the parents of Hersh Goldberg Pollin, one of five American hostages still being held by Hamas, spoke.
At last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the parents of another American hostage, Omar Neutra, took the stage, but Democrats gave a platform to Goldberg-Polin’s parents, both of whom were born in Chicago.
Democrats, like Republican delegates, chanted “Bring them home!”
However, Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) opening speech did not mention that Goldberg-Poline was attacked in Israel, nor did he mention the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Booker said Goldberg-Poline is an American citizen, but did not mention that Hersh is also an Israeli citizen through immigration.
Hersh’s mother, Rachel Goldberg, pointed out that the music festival where Goldberg-Polin was attacked and kidnapped took place in southern Israel, where 1,200 people were killed on October 7.
Overall, the message emphasized the diversity of the hostages rather than the fact that they were abducted because they were in Israel by a Palestinian terrorist group determined to destroy Israel and kill Jews around the world.
The identities of the perpetrator and victim were probably deliberately concealed. ContrastNeutra’s parents noted their son’s dual Israeli and American identity and said the terror attack was carried out by Hamas, concluding with “God bless Israel and God bless America.”
The Democratic National Convention speech was different, and that may have been a smart strategy for a few reasons.
As Hersh’s father, John Pollin, told the crowd, this is not a partisan issue, and the hostages’ families want to reach as wide an audience as possible.
The crowds would likely turn a deaf ear if they knew the hostages were Israeli, so for their sake it might be best to downplay that fact.
It might be better, as Pollin did, to avoid the broader Palestinian issue and express sympathy for the people of Gaza.
But it is perhaps odd that Democrats seem to have thought it necessary to downplay the Israeli identity of the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack at their own convention.
With left-wing activists demanding that Jews renounce their love for Israel as the price of acceptance, the Democratic convention risked doing the same.
Early Wednesday morning, Forward Reported When news broke that the parents of the Israeli hostages would be given a platform, Palestinian activists were not happy: they had hoped for a pro-Palestinian platform at the other end of the spectrum. (That role may have been played by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, who called for a ceasefire in Gaza before Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents spoke.)
The good news is that both Democrats and Republicans are committed to bringing the hostages home. For a moment, at least on one issue, Americans were united.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of “Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which is available for preorder on Amazon. He also wrote,Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency” is available on Audible. He is the 2018 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
