Nick Langworthy: “I thank our Conference vice chair for holding this Special Order hour and leading us and helping us get our message out…”

“I thank our Conference vice chair for holding this Special Order hour and leading us and helping us get our message out there for the American people. Today, I rise to bring attention to the fact that Americans have been held hostage in Gaza for 186 days. American citizens currently sit behind enemy lines held hostage in Gaza. The world changed on October 7 when Hamas launched a barbaric attack, a blood-thirsty rampage on the peace-loving people of Israel and they claimed the lives of over 1,000 innocent civilians, including 32 American citizens. Mr. Speaker, 250 hostages were taken, with five American citizens still believed to be alive and fighting for their survival in Gaza. Last week, I had the honor to travel to Israel and while in Jerusalem, I, with my colleagues, met with the Goldberg-Polin family, Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, whose son, Hersh, an American citizen, was taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival, where 379 beautiful young peoples' lives were stolen. They brought into focus that we have little to no information on the health and the welfare of the hostages. International organizations cannot get that data. The last video of Hersh from that day showed him applying his own tourniquet as his left arm had been blown off by a grenade. Their family has shown such courage and grace in telling the world about their son and his story and the story of the hostages currently held.…”