A Chicago truck driver is using his rig to help ensure the hostages still in the clutches of Hamas aren’t forgotten as the Dems roll into town for their convention – along with tens of thousands of anti-Israel protesters.
Jeremiah Smith, 28, a trucker and native of Chicago’s inner city, is behind the wheel of a movement to bring awareness to the dire plight of the hostages more than 10 months after Oct. 7, including childhood friend Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose family has deep Chicago roots.
By driving his “hostage truck” around the Windy City for 12 hours a day, six days a week, Smith is hoping to dispel misconceptions about the Jewish state and help fight antisemitism while raising awareness about those still in the terrorists’ hands.
“The DNC is a big opportunity – to show attendees and politicians that we want these hostages home,” Smith told The Post on his morning route. “This is my way of helping Hersh and all the hostages.”
As he charts his course, Smith plans to issue his plea to attendees who may be feeling the pressure of the anti-Israel crowd: “Please do everything to bring them home alive. Don’t forget about the hostages.”
Smith, who grew up in the North Side’s Cabrini-Green projects, first connected with Hersh’s volunteer tutor grandmother Marcy Goldberg at school when he was 6.
He became part of the family and “brothers” with the younger Hersh, who turned 23 in captivity after being kidnapped at the Nova music festival in Re’im, Israel, where some 350 people were murdered by terrorists.
“Marcy definitely saved my life,” said Smith, who moved in with Hersh’s grandmother when he was 11. “I saw stuff a six-year-old isn’t supposed to see,” he said, recalling exposure to things like “a whole lot of drugs, people killing people, people getting hit in the head with baseball bats” as a youth in the projects.
“I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t know these people. The Jewish community welcomed me with open arms.”
Smith, who considers himself Jewish today, had his first exposure to Judaism in his adopted home, attending Jewish summer camp and celebrating traditional holidays. He visited Hersh in Israel several times, and wears a star of David he bought on one of his trips.
But now thinking about the fate of his little brother keeps Smith on the razor’s edge.
Upon learning that Hersh was attacked on Oct. 7, Smith revealed, “We didn’t know if he was dead or alive – my heart dropped into my stomach,” he said, recalling that he immediately rushed to be by Marcy’s side.
Smith admitted he wasn’t sure about his dear friend’s state.
The first sign of life came with the Hamas propaganda video of Hersh on April 24, revealing a gaunt, weakened and one-armed Hersh with shorn hair some 200 days into his captivity.
“I was so happy to see him alive,” Smith said of the video that brought him to tears. “Some days it’s hard to have hope.”
It’s galvanized him to keep trucking.
For the past five months, he’s been driving a “hostage truck” with the images of Hersh and the other hostages around the Windy City, sometimes on the receiving end of hateful epithets, including getting the middle finger, being cut off on the road and being peppered with the n-word.
“People say, ‘You support them killing kids?’” recalled Smith, adding that he’s boned up on the country’s history and said he has facts on his side. “I’ve learned so much about Israel – especially since October 7. I try to tell them, if you were at that festival, they’d try to kill you too,” he said. “I say, ‘You’re not safe just because you’re Muslim.’”
But next week, he sees a “huge opportunity” to reach all the delegates in town for the DNC and “raise awareness for Hersh and all the hostages,” said Smith, a dad of two kids, ages 2 and 6, who’s also getting married in two weeks.
In addition to his normal route – he said he plans to swing his hostage truck around to all the delegate hotels and the convention center in order to attract maximum eyeballs to the plight of the captives. “I’m going to go by every hotel they’re staying at – I always want to have conversations,” he said.
“I want to make a difference – I want people to see the truck, to talk to me, to ask me why I support the hostages,” he said. “I want peace, of course. I want the hostages home.”
Bracing for the anti-Israel mobs promising to sow chaos next week, Smith said, “I can handle the hate.”
He will also be manning a new exhibit to coincide with the DNC, called “Hostage Square Chicago,” which will have evocative art installations recalling the horrors of Oct. 7, including 10-foot milk cartons featuring each of the American hostages still in Hamas captivity.
“I hope it’s peaceful next week, but I’m prepared. I’m not standing down,” he said, noting that he and his fiancée, who serves in the National Guard, pray every day for all of the hostages.
“Hersh would be proud. I want to make him proud.”
