Douglas Emhoff, the Jewish husband of U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, joined with leaders of the American Jewish community and victims’ families on Tuesday evening to hold a national vigil for the six hostages that Hamas executed and whose bodies the Israel Defense Forces recovered this weekend.
Speaking at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., Emhoff described the phone call that he and Vice President Kamala Harris had—after the news broke—with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli American and one of the six murdered hostages.
“Their souls were torn apart, just like the garments we tear in mourning,” Emhoff said. “And yet, they were comforting us. They were asking about the latest in the negotiations. They were asking how we can use this terrible moment to make progress.”
“I share what I’m feeling with the vice president—as my partner, as my wife,” Emhoff added. “She knows. She gets it. She cares. She’s committed. Hersh’s loss feels personal to the two of us. We’re both grieving.”
Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, asked attendees why the murder of a U.S. citizen by a foreign terrorist group has not provoked a national outrage.
“Where is the collective, universal and unequivocal condemnation for the brutal murder of an innocent American citizen at the hands of terrorists?” Deutch said. “Why, in a world that so often rallies for justice, has the deaths of six innocents, the execution of six innocent souls by terrorists not provoked the outcry it so desperately and rightfully deserves?”
“It is agonizing to say this, but it feels painfully as though Jewish lives are being valued less by many in America and by too many in the international community,” he added.
