Sandra Simovich

Debora Cahn, the creator of Netflix's The Diplomat, just confirmed something viewers caught in episode six of the new season. In the scene, the housekeeper at the US embassy in London talks about her father, who fought in World War II. She says that during the Allied advance through Belgium, a live grenade rolled to his feet, and a soldier named Hershel Polin from Richmond, Virginia, grabbed it and threw it. It exploded next to his hand. He lost the arm. He saved her father's life. Hersh Goldberg-Polin was born in Berkeley and grew up in Richmond, Virginia, before his family moved to Israel. On October 7, 2023, he was at the Nova festival when Hamas attacked. He lost part of his arm to a grenade while sheltering with friends, was taken hostage into Gaza, and was murdered in captivity in August 2024. He was 23. Cahn told Mako the reference was intentional. "Yes, it's true," she said. She said his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, called it a tribute, and that she loves that word. In her words, it was just a small footnote so people remember everything they went through. A show watched by millions put his name in a story where a man from Richmond gives up his arm to save someone else's life. That is who Hersh was. Did you catch it when you watched? Reporting by Dudi Caspi, Los Angeles, for Mako (mako.co.il), published November 9, 2026.