Leah and Simcha Goldin, parents of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin whose body is being held by Hamas in Gaza, and Tzur Goldin, Hadar’s twin brother, on Sunday met with Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
The Goldin family said after the meeting that they chose to attend "despite a heavy feeling that it was unnecessary. We expect Gantz, as Chief of Staff during Operation Protective Edge who sent Hadar to fight, to ensure that he is brought home now, even though in the six years since Hadar was kidnapped and left in the hands of Hamas, he has not acted at all."
During the meeting, the Goldin family told Gantz, "We have realized that our statesmanlike behavior and cooperation with the system over the past six years has been interpreted by the state leadership as permission not to bring the soldiers back from the battlefield.”
"Therefore, we stress that in case we do not see actual actions to bring back Hadar, we will change our statesmanlike path and act in other ways so that you fulfill your obligation to us as Chief of Staff during Operation Protective Edge.”
The Goldin family added, "We refrain from pointing out that the meeting was in good spirits because the atmosphere is irrelevant while the soldiers and civilians are still in the hands of Hamas."