All posts tagged: Rachel Goldberg

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 …

Nikki Haley’s Big Test – The Atlantic

Nikki Haley’s Big Test – The Atlantic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The race for second place in the Republican primaries has gotten closer. Nikki Haley has been rising surprisingly quickly in the polls in recent months, becoming a top rival to Ron DeSantis; both are still trailing Donald Trump. I called my colleague Elaine Godfrey, who covers politics for The Atlantic and attended a campaign event for Haley in New Hampshire last week, to talk about what Haley offers that DeSantis does not, and what her surge tells us about voters’ hunger for normalcy. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: New Scrutiny Lora Kelley: Why has support for Haley been rising lately? Elaine Godfrey: Her support has been ticking upward since August, when we had the first GOP debate. Supporters in New Hampshire told me that they saw her on the debate stage and really liked her. …

After Hamas’s Attack, Parents Search for Their Son

After Hamas’s Attack, Parents Search for Their Son

On the night of Friday, October 6, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg laid their hands on the head of their 23-year-old son, Hersh, so that they could bless him, a ritual of the Sabbath. They recited in Hebrew: May you feel God’s presence within you always, and may you find peace. It was an exquisitely temperate Jerusalem evening, and the Goldberg-Polin family made the most of it, dining al fresco at a long table of friends. Hersh’s presence was an unexpected blessing. He had only recently returned from several months of traveling across Europe by himself, occasionally meeting up with his boyhood friends. Earlier in the week, Hersch had told his mother that he would be away for the weekend, attending a music festival in the north. But that festival’s organizers had neglected to obtain the necessary permits, and the event ended prematurely. As Rachel stared at her son from across the table, she marveled at his hard-earned sense of ease. When the Goldberg-Polin family emigrated from Richmond, Virginia, in 2008, when Hersh was 7, …