Emhoff ‘gutted’ after hostages killed by Hamas in Gaza, says he and VP Harris ‘both grieving’
WASHINGTON — Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris – and the first Jewish person to be married to a nationally elected US leader – said Tuesday he is “devastated” by the US president’s execution Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
Speaking at a vigil for the hostages at his Washington synagogue, Emhoff said: “I couldn’t stop thinking about Hersh and his parents, or the other five and their families.” He added: “This is hard. I’m devastated. I’m devastated.”
Emhoff, who will become the country’s ‘first gentleman’ if Harris is elected president in November, has emerged as a prominent government liaison officer for the Jewish community and a voice in combating anti-Semitism, particularly in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. About 1,200 people, including at least 40 Americans, were killed in the attack and about 250 others were taken hostage.
“How you feel right now is how I feel,” Emhoff said at the event at the Adas Israel Congregation, organized by local and national Jewish groups. “And how we all feel is something Kamala is hearing directly from me.”
He added: “Hersh’s loss feels personal to both of us. We are both grieving.”
Emhoff recounted his and Harris’ conversation with Goldberg-Polin’s parents on Sunday, a day after Israeli forces discovered their bodies in a tunnel under Gaza. He said that even as they grieved the loss of their son, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jonathan Polin asked Harris about the latest progress in negotiations to reach a ceasefire that would also release other hostages.
“Part of Rachel and Jon’s world just ended, but somehow they’re still looking forward and taking care of others,” Emhoff said.
He continued, “Jon and Rachel’s hearts have room to hold everyone. They won’t give up, and neither will we. Not on this 333rd day. Never. Not until every hostage is reunited with their family.”
Emhoff added that Harris and President Joe Biden are “working around the clock to get a hostage and ceasefire deal,” saying, “The time to bring them home is now.”
Goldberg-Polin and Polin spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month as part of their family’s global tour to raise awareness about the hostages and their plight. Emhoff said they understood “that if we don’t tell the story over and over again, we have no hope of ‘never again,'” and said the Jewish community must continue to tell the hostages’ stories.