All posts tagged: Hersh Goldberg-Polin

Palestinian allies make last-ditch push for speaker on the DNC stage

Palestinian allies make last-ditch push for speaker on the DNC stage

(RNS) — Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and their interfaith allies spent much of Thursday (Aug. 22) pushing Democratic officials to allow a Palestinian American to speak from the party convention’s main stage, to convey a message of solidarity despite the party’s so-far consistent support for Israel in its prosecution of the war in Gaza. The push was accompanied by an all-night sit-in outside Chicago’s United Center at which members of the “uncommitted” movement also made speeches pressing the Democratic National Convention to feature a Palestinian speaker. The uncommitted — so-called because members of the movement wrote in “uncommitted” on their ballots rather than vote for President Joe Biden in this year’s Democratic primaries — want the DNC to recognize the suffering of Palestinians, 40,000 of whom have been killed by Israel’s massive Gaza assault of the past 10 months, an assault backed by U.S. bombs and munitions that has flattened the Gaza Strip and left tens of thousands homeless.  In an emotional speech from the stage of the convention on Wednesday, Israeli Americans Rachel Goldberg-Polin …

These US citizens went to fight for Israel. Now they’re hostages in Gaza.

These US citizens went to fight for Israel. Now they’re hostages in Gaza.

(RNS) — After graduating from Tenafly High School in New Jersey two years ago, Edan Alexander enrolled in an Israeli army prep seminar to see if he would be a good fit for the Israel Defense Forces. Both of Alexander’s Israeli-born parents had served in the IDF. His grandparents lived in Tel Aviv. He was conversant in Hebrew. And he had been attending an Israeli scouting movement, the Tzofim, while in high school. So after completing the three-month army prep program tailored to Jews who live outside of Israel, he enlisted. On the morning of Oct. 7, Alexander, 20, was on guard duty at a military outpost about 1.5 miles from the Gaza border when Hamas terrorists stormed his watchtower and took him captive. He has not been heard from since, and his parents, Adi and Yael Alexander, are working feverishly to advocate for his release. Alexander is among the 100 hostages still believed to be alive in a network of tunnels beneath southern Gaza. Of those, six are U.S. citizens and three, including Alexander, …