Lawmakers from 12 Countries Visit Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem
October 8, 2024 – ELNET (European Leadership Network) attended an event that featured remarks from Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, parents of Hersh Goldberg, an Israeli hostage in Gaza who was brutally executed by Hamas terrorists in August.
The gala event featured lawmakers from 12 countries such as Germany, France, Czechoslovakia, and Lithuania, including top defense officials from European states.

The event capped off their multi-day trip that featured visits to the sites in the south of Israel, the Knesset and the Foreign Ministry.
At the Museum, the delegation viewed the Museum’s new exhibit “06:29: From Darkness to Light,” which tells the tragedy of October 7th through the lens of heroic women survivors, first responders, and family members of those impacted. They then viewed a screening of a new film by Syrian-Lebanese activist Rowan Osman called, “Tragic Awakening: A New Look at the Oldest Hatred,” which unpacks the history of antisemitism and how it has morphed into hate against the modern state of Israel.

Osman shared with the group how her background was half-Syrian and half-Lebanese and that she is now “a recovered antisemite” who used to be “a victim to misinformation and brainwashing” of the Muslim world towards Jews. Her change in perspective occurred while studying in France when she got to know Jews for the first time after years of only just reading about them.
Osman lamented that the root cause of Jew hatred is “the Arab world refuses to acknowledge antisemitism… until we find partners on the Arab side there will be no peace.”

After the screening, Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin addressed the European lawmakers – only their second speech since the tragic killing of their son – with their moving story, including aspects not previously recorded.
Then, Rafaela Treistman, a survivor from the Nova music festival, shared her story. Treistman attended the event with her boyfriend Ranani when the Hamas terrorists ambushed the festival, indiscriminately murdering and raping hundreds of men and women on October 7.

Treistman was in the roadside bomb shelter with Hersh and dozens others as the terrorists sprayed gun fire and threw grenades inside, killing the innocent Israelis. Tragically, Ranani was killed during the onslaught, which still haunts her to this day.

“I feel bad the world doesn’t have Ranani anymore,” she said emotionally. Despite the tragedy she faced, Treistman said she plans on staying in Israel for her entire life, saying “I feel safer here than anywhere else in the world.”