The parents of a hostage taken during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks criticized President Joe Biden Friday, saying he didn’t mention the hostages during a contentious phone call with Israel’s prime minister during a MSNBC appearance.
Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday that aid to Israel could be subjected to conditions unless Israel took steps to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin expressed anger that Biden didn’t discuss efforts to free the estimated 134 hostages still held by the radical Islamic terrorist group Hamas, which killed 1200 people and took 200 captive during the attack. (RELATED: ‘Go Straight To Hell’: Joe Scarborough Rants Against Netanyahu And His Backers)
“You are catching us on a day where we are feeling profound trauma and shock because yesterday nothing was mentioned about hostages that we know of in that conversation between President Biden and Bibi Netanyahu and it has opened a deep wound since Oct. 7th so we are in a horrible place right now,” Rachel Goldberg told “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist.
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Biden’s call and threat to Netanyahu were fueled by the death of seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen due to an Israeli strike. The Israeli Defense Forces relieved two officers following a probe into the attack.
“We are on day 182, 134 hostages are still being held, and I want to remind the viewers that these hostages, it would be simple and easy to make this a Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Jewish issue, but these 134 hostages comprise people from 25 countries, five religions, they span in age from 14 months to 86 years old,” Polin told Geist. “This is a global humanitarian issue that seems to be getting brushed under the rug as time passes. I don’t think there should be a single conversation happening around the Gaza-Israel issue that doesn’t start with take the hostages out. As soon as hostages come out, it has an ability to defuse tension in the region.”
“All the complexity going on right now in the Middle East, you know what is the one thing that is closest to being able to be executed that would have an effect of some calm is releasing these 134 hostages,” Polin continued. “So when there are conversations that talk about condemning Israel for this and that and calling for more aid, we feel terrible that there were seven aid workers killed, that was a horrendous, tragic mistake, and we feel horrible about that, but what about the 134 hostages? What about the eight Americans still being held? How are there conversations starting that don’t start with release the hostages?”
The Biden administration abstained in the UN Security Council, allowing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to pass March 25. Biden has become increasingly critical of Israel’s operations, particularly since Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan called on voters in the Democratic primary to vote for an uncommitted slate of delegates in protest of Biden’s support for Israel on Feb. 18.
“We were with all the families yesterday, all the U.S. families,” Goldberg said. “We were together when that readout came. It was the most vicious, violent slap from our own government. We couldn’t believe it. We really couldn’t believe it.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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