Leah Goldin, mother of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin whose body has been held by Hamas in Gaza since 2014, on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s handling of the issue of returning the body of her son and IDF soldier Oron Shaul.
"My problem is with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whom I trusted to bring about change, and basically what we have is a direct continuation of a previous conduct around the return of the bodies of Hadar and Oron from Gaza," Goldin told Channel 13 News.
"I call on Bennett to wake up – you promised a government of change, so change the facts and do not repeat the case of Ron Arad, bring back the soldiers' bodies here and now. Hadar and Oron are at a distance of an hour away, they already know who they are with, and yet they do business with [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar every day," she added.
She spoke of the meeting that took place between her and her husband and Bennett. "My husband, Simcha, presented him with actions to take, and he even took this paper with him, but he said nothing and did nothing. In reality, they just shut the doors in our faces. We have a prisoner coordinator who has not given results for four years."
"We now have a Defense Minister who was the Chief of Staff during Operation Protective Edge and he sent Hadar to his death, Aviv Kochavi was head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, he sent Hadar and he gave the intelligence opinion. This saga has already crossed the lines. There is no logic here, only political tricks," Goldin said.
She also criticized senior members of the defense establishment. "We are in a reality where we are confused and have forgotten who the enemy is - they have turned us into the enemy. Sinwar is the man they do business with every day. I will not be Ron Arad, because I will go myself to bring Hadar back in the manner that we will lay out, out of national and Israeli pride and not out of submission to Hamas."