'Completely overwhelming': Parents of American-Israeli hostage react to DNC support

>>> LAST NIGHT'S MOST EMOTIONAL MOMENT CAME WHEN JON POLIN AND RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN TALKED ABOUT HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN'S 321st DAY OF CAPTIVITY. >> BRING THEM HOME! BRING THEM HOME! BRING THEM HOME! BRING THEM HOME! BRING THEM HOME! >> AT THIS MOMENT, 109 TREASURED HUMAN BEINGS ARE BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS IN GAZA. THEY ARE CHRISTIANS, JEWS, MUSLIMS, HINDUS AND BUDDHISTS. THEY ARE FROM 23 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. THE YOUNGEST HOSTAGE IS A 1-YEAR-OLD RED-HEADED BABY BOY. THE OLDEST IS AN 86-YEAR-OLD GRANDPA. AMONG THE HOSTAGES ARE EIGHT AMERICAN CITIZENS. ONE OF THOSE AMERICANS IS OUR ONLY SON. HIS NAME IS HERSH. >> AND RACHEL AND JON JOIN US NOW LIVE HERE IN CHICAGO. GOOD MORNING TO YOU BOTH. RACHEL, WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO FEEL THAT ENERGY AND THAT LOVE IN THIS ROOM LAST NIGHT? >> IT WAS COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED, AND THEREFORE COMPLETELY OVERWHELMING. AND WE HAD SO ANTICIPATED EITHER NEUTRALITY OR NEGATIVITY FROM WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TOLD AND PREPARED FOR. SO TO WALK OUT TO THIS EMBRACE OF SUPPORT AND LOVE BEFORE WE STARTED TO SPEAK WAS JUST ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING, BUT IN A GOOD WAY. >> YEAH. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU COULD LOOK OUT AND SEE THE FACES, BUT THE TEARS STREAMING DOWN PEOPLE'S FACES, THE EMOTION IN THE ROOM AND THE SUPPORT, JON, WITH THOSE CHANTS OF "BRING THEM HOME." WHAT WAS THE FEELING FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE UP THERE? >> SIMILAR TO RACHEL. I KIND OF EXPECTED WE'D HAVE SOMETHING NEUTRAL TO HOSTILE AS A RECEPTION. SO TO WALK IN AND BEFORE UTTERING A WORD HAVE PEOPLE SHOW SUCH SUPPORT WAS STRENGTHENING, AND IT REALLY SHOWS US THAT THE WORLD DOES NOT LIKE HOSTAGES BEING HELD. THE WORLD WANTS THESE HOSTILITIES TO END. AND WHAT WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO DO IS GET THE MESSAGE THAT WE ALL HEARD LAST NIGHT LOUDLY AND CLEARLY TO THE PEOPLE IN POWER WHO ARE THE ONES THAT CAN END THIS. HERSH AND ALL THE HOSTAGES AND ALL THE HOSTAGE FAMILIES IN THE WHOLE REACH, OUR FATES ARE IN THE HANDS OF TWO MEN RIGHT NOW, PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU AND HAMAS LEADER YAHYA SINWAR. WE NEED THESE GUYS TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO END THIS FOR ALL OF US. >> SECRETARY BLINKEN IS IN THE REGION TRYING TO DO EXACTLY THAT. WE'RE COMING UP ON A YEAR, 321 DAYS SINCE HERSH AND THE OTHER HOSTAGES WERE TAKEN. WHAT GIVES YOU, RACHEL, THE STRENGTH TO GET THROUGH ALL OF THESE DAYS? YOU TOUCHED ON IT LAST NIGHT, WHICH IS THAT THEY GIVE YOU OXYGEN WHEN YOU STRUGGLE TO BREATHE, ALL THE SUPPORT YOU'VE FELT. >> I THINK IT VERY MUCH IS A PRIMAL, REFLEXIVE, INNATE RESPONSE THAT ANY HUMAN BEING HAS WHEN A LOVED ONE IS IN DANGER. AND WHEN YOUR CHILD IS IN DANGER, YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. WE'VE HEARD STORIES OF MOTHERS WHO LIFT CARS WHEN THERE'S BEEN AN ACCIDENT AND THEIR BABY IS STUCK IN THEIR CAR SEAT. THESE HERCULEAN FEATS OF STRENGTH ARE WHAT WE SEE FROM ALL OF THE HOSTAGE FAMILIES. WE ARE ALL IN A MARATHON OF AMBIGUOUS TRAUMA, AND WE HAVE NO CHOICE, WE HAVE NO CHOICE. AND THANK GOD WE HAVE LITERALLY, AS JON MENTIONED LAST NIGHT, MILLIONS, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE REACHED OUT AND CONTINUE TO REACH OUT DAILY TO THE HOSTAGE FAMILIES SAYING, WE'RE WITH YOU, WE'RE PRAYING FOR YOU, WE'RE CALLING OUT TO THE UNIVERSE FOR YOU. AND IT GIVES US STRENGTH AND KEEPS US GOING. >> PRESIDENT BIDEN CALLED PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU YESTERDAY AND URGED HIM, WE HAVE TO GET THIS DEAL ACROSS THE FINISH LINE. THEY'RE NOT THERE YET. THERE SEEM TO BE SOME GAPS THAT REMAIN. HAVE YOU HEARD ANY UPDATES WITH YOUR SON? >> SO WE HAVE NOT. WE BASICALLY KNOW WHAT EVERYONE ELSE KNOWS FROM WATCHING AND READING THE MEDIA. WE KNOW THAT THAT CALL HAPPENED. WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ISRAEL IS PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU IS TALKING ABOUT THE SECURITY OF THE COUNTRY AND ALL THESE LEGITIMATE NEEDS THAT THE COUNTRY HAS, BUT I THINK THE NARRATIVE THAT HASN'T YET BROKEN THROUGH TO HIM IS WHAT WE HEAR CONSISTENTLY FROM PEOPLE AROUND THE COUNTRY IN ISRAEL REGULARLY, IS WE, WE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY, CANNOT BEGIN THE NECESSARY PROCESS OF REHABILITATION FROM THE TRAUMA OF OCTOBER 7th KNOWING THAT WE HAVE HOSTAGES BEING HELD. WE NEED THE HOSTAGES HOME FOR OUR NATIONAL RESILIENCE. AND SO I KNOW IT'S COMPLICATED, BUT WE JUST PUSH HIM TO MAKE SURE THAT PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU IS NOT UNDERESTIMATING THE NEED NEED FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, NOT JUST THE 109 HOSTAGE FAMILIES BUT THE COUNTRY TO BRING THESE PEOPLE HOME. >> YOU HAD A MOVING LINE IN YOUR SPEECH LAST NIGHT WHERE YOU SAID IN A COMPETITION OF PAIN, THERE ARE NO WINNERS. ACKNOWLEDGING THE HUMANITARIAN SUFFERING IN GAZA SAYING THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL QUESTION, THIS IS A HUMANITARIAN ISSUE. RACHEL, THE MOMENT AT THE END OF THE SPEECH WHERE YOU CAME BACK INTO THE MIKE AND CALLED OUT TO HERSH, BROUGHT EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM TO TEARS, ANYBODY WATCHING, ANYBODY WITH A CHILD, ANYONE WITH ANY HUMAN HEART TO TEARS. WHAT COMPELLED YOU TO STEP IN AND SAY THAT? >> THE TRUTH IS THAT THAT IS THE MANTRA THAT I'VE BEEN SAYING. I PROBABLY AT THIS POINT SAID IT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES THROUGH THESE 321 DAYS, AND I ACTUALLY HAD WRITTEN IT IN AT THE END, BECAUSE IT'S A BESEECHING TO THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, AND BEFORE GOING OUT ACTUALLY WHEN WE WERE BACKSTAGE SOMEONE SAID WHAT DID YOU SAY TO YOURSELF NOT KNOWING WHAT RECEPTION WE WERE GOING TO GET AND FOR A MINUTE OR TWO BEFORE WE WENT OUT, I WAS JUST SAYING, I LOVE YOU, STAY STRONG, SURVIVE. I WAS SAYING PART OF A VERSE THAT IS IN THE BIBLE, BUT I WAS SAYING IT IN HEBREW BUT THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION IS GOD WITH ME, I AM NOT AFRAID. >> WE LOVE YOU. STAY STRONG, SURVIVE. A MOTHER CALLING OUT TO HER SON. WE'RE SO ALWAYS TO HAVE YOU ON OUR SHOW. COME BACK AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN AND KNOW OUR LEADERS ARE PUSHING TO BRING YOUR SON AND OTHERS BA