The parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to Washington D.C., saying that the trip had been a matter of exceptional importance. Hersh's father Jonathan said that the greatest impact of the trip had been the chance to accelerate the process of securing the hostages' release.
''It was a rare opportunity to have multiple, candid conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu in the span of just a few days, and to sit in the same room with President Biden and his top advisors,'' Jonathan said.
''The families of the hostages are united in pushing the matter of urgency. We can no longer wait - we need to move to closure and bring them home,'' he added.
Rachel, Hersh's mother, said that the families are still awaiting action from the government. ''We have been suffering for the last 293 days. We are always optimistic, and filled with prayer, but we just don't know.''
Jonathan added that words are no longer enough: ''We've heard messages that were encouraging a lot, only to end up with disappointment. We hope this time is different. We believe it can be. Those mediating for all sides say that this is the moment that we can grab, and we are hearing from all our defense systems that we are ready for this deal.''
Rachel recounted her experience meeting with both President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu. ''It was just six of the families with US citizenship, and we all really know each other at this point. It was a comfortable feeling of conversation.''
Jonathan spoke about the prayer they recited when the meeting had finished. ''We recited a prayer written a few weeks ago by Tzvi Zussman, father of the late Ben Zussman, about supporting the government of Israel to make hard but correct decisions. Many bereaved families have begun saying it, and many congregations. It was a special moment to hear world leaders say 'Amen' to that.''
''We're tired of meeting with the media, with politicians, with going on airplanes, we want to have quiet nights as a family with Hersh at our side. We're desperate, and hope that we can start the road to recovery imminently," the couple concluded.