L.A. vigil honors Hersh Goldberg-Polin, other slain Israeli hostages

A vigil was held Sunday evening in Culver City just hours after Israeli authorities shared the news that six hostages had been killed by Hamas after nearly a year in captivity.

One of the slain hostages was 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a California-born man whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month and who has become widely known in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Sunday night’s vigil was held at the site of a memorial exhibit dedicated to the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. The memorial, in a 50,000-square-foot industrial event space, opened Aug. 17.

Shortly before the event, Scooter Braun, a music executive and the main organizer of the memorial service, told The Times that after the killings, the decision was made to hold the vigil amid the exhibit, which re-creates the attack at the Nova musical festival in Israel.

By 6 p.m. Sunday, several hundred people had gathered. Many wore a piece of tape on their chests with the number 331, to signify the number of days since the hostages were taken. The service was held in a part of the exhibit known as the “healing room.”

Braun said the exhibit was inspired by stories told by survivors of the music festival.

“It has nothing to do with politics. You won’t see any flags here,” Braun said. “It is strictly about the music festival and what took place there. To allow people to see this could’ve been Coachella, this could’ve been Stagecoach.”

Most of the recently slain hostages had attended the Oct. 7 Nova music festival.

Israeli officials confirmed Sunday morning that the bodies of the six hostages, including Goldberg-Polin, were found in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Authorities found their bodies Saturday night, and an autopsy revealed that four men and two women died sometime Thursday or Friday from gunshot wounds.

Speaking at the DNC in Chicago on Aug. 21, Rachel Goldberg said her son, whom she described as a fan of music and travel, attended the festival in Israel’s Negev Desert with his best friend to celebrate Goldberg-Polin’s birthday.

Goldberg stood alongside her husband, Jon Polin, during a tearful speech. The parents, who have met with numerous political leaders in the months since their son’s abduction, spoke at the Chicago convention 12 days before news broke of his death.

She went on to describe the horrific series of events that unfolded the morning of Oct. 7, and that Goldberg-Polin and his friend, along with 27 other festival-goers, hid in a 5-by-8-foot bomb shelter as militants threw grenades into the shelter. Goldberg-Polin was taken into captivity. His friend, Goldberg said, heroically deflected eight grenades until he was killed by a ninth one.

People attend a vigil at the Nova Exhibition on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The vigil was held to honor the six hostages who were taken October 7, 2023 and were killed by Hamas. (Eric Thayer / For The Times)

A view from the vigil at the Nova Exhibition held on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“Hersh’s left forearm, his dominant arm, was blown off before he was loaded onto a pickup truck and stolen from his life,” his mother said.

“At this moment, 109 treasured human beings are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza,” she said. “Among the hostages are eight American citizens. One of those Americans is our only son.”

The other hostages who were killed, in addition to Goldberg-Polin, who was the only U.S. citizen among them, were identified by the Israeli military as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.

In a preliminary assessment, the Israeli military said all six were killed “shortly” before troops arrived to retrieve them to safety.

On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian militants executed multiple attacks throughout Israel, including at the music festival, where 364 attendees were killed and about 250 individuals were taken hostage. About half of those hostages were freed in a hostage-prisoner swap last year. In total, 1,200 Israelis were killed, including at least 42 Americans.

Since those attacks, Israel retaliated with an aerial bombardment of Gaza, a densely populated area of land, and with ground troops, waging a war that has since killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

People attend a vigil at the Nova Exhibition on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The vigil was held to honor the six hostages who were taken October 7, 2023 and were killed by Hamas.

(Eric Thayer / For The Times)