New season of Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’ offers hidden tribute to Hersh Goldberg-Polin

The fourth season of Netflix's 'The Diplomat' includes a tribute to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a hostage killed in Gaza. In episode 6, a character recounts a WWII story about an American soldier named Hershel Polin from Richmond, Virginia, who saved a life by throwing away a grenade. The story mirrors the actions of Goldberg-Polin's friend Aner Shapira at the Nova festival. Goldberg-Polin's mother, Rachel, noted the striking effort to keep hostages' stories alive.

The fourth season of Netflix's 'The Diplomat,' which premiered last week, includes a hidden tribute to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity. In the sixth episode, a housekeeper tells the ambassador's aide about an American WWII soldier named Hershel Polin from Richmond, Virginia, who saved her father's life by throwing away a live grenade. The story mirrors the real-life actions of Goldberg-Polin's friend Aner Shapira, who threw back grenades at the Nova festival before being killed. Goldberg-Polin lost part of his arm from a grenade before being abducted. He was killed in captivity in August 2024 alongside five other hostages. His mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, said she had not seen the episode but found it striking that people are working to ensure the hostages' stories are not erased. The show's creator, Debora Cahn, is a descendant of Holocaust survivors.