I sat down to process the shocking news: Hersh had been shot dead in a Gaza tunnel

It was an unremarkable 1-1 home draw against Hapoel Hadera in Hapoel Jerusalem’s opening match of the 2024-25 season in Israel’s premier league, but it is a game I will never forget.
As the referee blew the final whistle at Teddy stadium in Jerusalem’s Malha neighbourhood, I checked the WhatsApp messages on my phone and there it was. Still not confirmed by the authorities, but a social media flash was reporting that six Israeli hostages had been shot dead by Hamas gunmen in a Gaza tunnel. Among the names listed was 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the leaders of Hapoel Jerusalem’s Malha Brigade ultras fan group who, before October 7th, was one of the supporters leading the chanting at every game, home and away.
I had to sit down for a few minutes to process the shocking news we had been dreading for more than 300 days. I was wearing a red T-shirt when I received the news, along with most of the Jerusalem fans. It featured what had become an iconic image of Hersh glancing back, and next to it an egg timer with the sand almost out. Underneath, two simple messages: “Bring Hersh Home Now” and “We Love You, Stay Strong, Survive”.
The last message was the sentence his American-born mother, Rachel, used to close every speech she made over the last 300 days, raising awareness of the plight of her stolen son, including just a few weeks earlier in an emotional address to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
We will never know if Hersh heard those messages during his captivity. Probably not, but Rachel and her husband, Jon, left no stone unturned in their tireless campaign across the world, inspiring millions in Israel and abroad as they turned Hersh into probably the most well-known of all the hostages, before his tragic end.
Those red T-shirts were handed out to Hapoel fans during last season’s derby game against bitter cross-city rivals, Beitar Jerusalem. The Hapoel-Beitar divide reflects much more than a simple football rivalry.
Hapoel is Israel’s only senior fan-owned club and prides itself on its widespread social outreach, including nurturing youth teams in the city’s deprived Arab neighbourhoods, together with a clear anti-racist message.
Beitar, with a much larger fan base across the country, remains Israel’s only club which has never had an Arab player. Its supporters include a significant element who identify with the far-right in Israel and a hardcore, avowedly racist and violent ultras fan group called La Familia.
Hersh banners featured prominently at every Hapoel game, along with the chant “Bring Them All Home”.
For Hersh the choice between Hapoel and Beitar was a no-brainer and Hapoel football and basketball fans, proudly wearing their Hersh T-shirts, have been at the forefront of the Jerusalem demonstrations over the last 11 months, urging the government to prioritise freeing the hostages over other considerations.
That campaign has so far failed and although it was reported that Hamas gunmen killed Hersh and the other five hostages in cold blood, many of the protesters also blame prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accusing him of cynically torpedoing chances of achieving progress in the ceasefire talks to keep his right-wing coalition in power.
Hersh featured on the list of hostages who were due to be released in the initial six-week “humanitarian” phase of a ceasefire.
He was among the hundreds of young people attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel when thousands of Hamas gunmen breached the Gaza border on October 7th.
Fleeing the attackers, Hersh hid in a roadside bomb shelter with other terrified youngsters, but had his left arm blown off from the elbow down when the gunmen lobbed grenades into the shelter.
Thousands of Hapoel fans attended Hersh’s funeral last week and the daily prayer services that took place outside the family home during the one-week Jewish shiva mourning period. Dressed in red, Hapoel’s colours, they carried the flags waved at all the games.
But it wasn’t just sports fans who identified with Hersh. Also in the crowd hearing the eulogies were hundreds of religiously observant teenage girls, in modest attire, long dresses and arms covered beneath the elbows, speaking Hebrew and American-accented English, reciting psalms.
Jerusalem has a large English-speaking community and many know the family through synagogue, school and other channels. Large red “Bring Hersh Home” banners hung over balconies across the city. I counted seven on one short trip to my local food store.
May his Memory be a Blessing is a traditional honorific for the dead in Judaism. Hapoel Jerusalem players will play their match this weekend, the first since the funeral, with shirts featuring a picture of Hersh and the slogan May His Memory Be a Revolution, words taken from Jon Polin’s eulogy.