Rachel, the mother of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about the reports that the US is considering a deal directly with Hamas to release hostages with American citizenship.
"We heard about it from the media," she said of the report. "That sounds like a rumor, not accurate."
She and other families of American hostages are set to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the reported deal as part of Secretary Blinken's trip to Israel, which began today.
She also explained her reason for doubting the report: "President Biden has been trying very hard to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a joint proposal. If there's any truth to this rumor, it would be only as an alternative."
Her family was elated to hear of Operation Arnon's success. "We have not felt so thrilled since the last heroic raid that freed hostages. It was a breath of air in the suffocating reality we live in. We were screaming with happiness. I grabbed for my prayer book to find the blessing to say for a miracle - 'Blessed is he who is good and does good', and then we repeated over and over "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His kindness endures forever" (Psalms 136:1)."
The feeling was shared with other hostage families as well: "We all felt the same way. We all know each other's stories, and this was finally some good news."
Still, she says, military raids have their limits: "Every time one of them is rescued was a wonderful miracle, but we don't have time to wait for another one - the hostages are in an active war zone and the entire nation is suffering. Even the IDF admits this was a miracle, and not something that can be replicated. The way to get 120 people home quickly is through a deal. "
The current US-backed proposal, for all its drawbacks, provides for precisely that. "It would take four months, which is hard, but four months from now we could be in a different place. The way to start healing from the massacre is to get everybody home."
There are no days off from being the mother of a hostage, Rachel claims. "Every mother in history knows that if her child is in danger, she must do everything in her power to save him. The families of the hostages never take a day off - we are constantly trying to identify our next action, our next contact, our next plan to try and find someone who can help. All the families are constantly discussing strategies and working to free their loved ones - each in their own way, but we are all at it every single day."