Tzur Goldin, the brother of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin whose body has been held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years, on Thursday welcomed the release of Naama Issachar from Russian prison, but also criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for not putting in the same effort to bring back his brother.
In an interview on Channel 12 News, Goldin spoke about the part the families of the missing soldiers played in the fight for the return of Naama. "From the moment the incident occurred, people from the group working to release Naama Issachar approached us and we did everything we could," he said.
"Whether it is through human rights organizations or through regional diplomacy that we have been engaged with in recent years, for us, the mission is the same mission - restoring human dignity. Israeli citizens must not feel that they are far away from the country, no matter what the circumstances, and that no one will help them."
Goldin later discussed the difference between the amount of effort invested in bringing back Issachar and those invested in returning his brother's body. "The government is not doing everything it needs to bring him back," he said. "It is impossible to ignore the disappointing gap between the Prime Minister's attitude towards [Naama’s case] and his attitude towards Operation Protective Edge.”
"Netanyahu sent my brother alive to the battlefield, and he has not been back for five and a half years. The Prime Minister has been blatantly ignoring him. He has never publicly raised the issue in any way, neither with Putin nor with Trump, despite our calls for him to do so."
Goldin added, "Hamas has been holding kidnapped individuals for five and a half years, and there is no motivation to make a significant step. All the tools are on the table, it is not complicated at all, but clearly the Prime Minister lacks the motivation. The Prime Minister is unbothered by the soldiers who were captured by the enemy. He conceals them as much as possible and the attitude is very despicable and disparaging."