After dismissing baseless Palestinian-Arab claims that convicted terrorist Nasser Abu Hamid died due to Israeli negligence while imprisoned for his crimes, Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that his body would not be returned to his family for burial. This follows a government policy dating back several years that recommends the retention of the bodies of convicted terrorist murderers, in order to acquire "bargaining chips" in any potential prisoner exchange.
Indeed, Hamas in Gaza has been holding on to the bodies of two slain IDF soldiers for over eight years. One of them is Hadar Goldin, and his mother, Leah, traveled to Rome on Wednesday and met with the Pope, in an effort to enhance the visibility of her cause and see her son returned to his family, for a decent burial.
"After despairing of all the politicians and decision-makers who only serve their own interests, we gathered all the proofs we needed to show that we are correct in what we're doing, and that the law is on our side, and that it is prohibited to give a penny, not a thing to Gaza without demanding the return of our sons," Leah Goldin said following the meeting, speaking to Radio 103FM.
"It was then that we decided to pursue the simplest, most inoffensive course of action, what people call the 'religious' appeal," she added, noting that the concept of respectful burial of the dead is common to many religions.
"In Christianity, they have a notion of piety, right? In Judaism too - we all serve the same G-d. From my perspective, this is what I had in mind when meeting with the Pope, who is a man of wisdom and understanding and also, as he was born in Argentina, he has an extra level of sensitivity to mothers who have lost their children. And he told me quite simply that we have to get the children back. He told me that he would work through all his religious channels to publicize the matter and to help."
Goldin added that, "It's clear that Hamas is a terrorist organization, but I wasn't there to explain that to him or to convince him of that. All I wanted to do was make it clear that there's no other option -- they have to return our sons to us, and every country in the world that has any leverage over Hamas should be using that leverage to get them to send our sons home. We saw how things ended with the Druze youth [whose body was kidnapped by PA-Arabs] -- within 30 hours they had returned him. It's the same concept here. And now that this is on the Pope's agenda, I feel that we've had a breakthrough of sorts," she added.
Regarding Israeli efforts to persuade Hamas to relinquish the bodies of her son and fellow soldier Oron Shaul, Goldin had harsh words. "I have nothing good to say about Defense Minister Benny Gantz and I won't thank him for anything he's done in this area. He was IDF Chief-of-Staff during Operation Protective Edge and he was the man who sent my son into Gaza. For the past eight years and four months he's done nothing. Under his watch -- and he's been Defense Minister for two years -- he's allowed 20 thousand laborers to enter Israel from Gaza without demanding my son in return. It's all political games, and I'm sick and tired of them, of all the decision-makers who only want to bolster their own egos. What we've done will make a difference, and no longer will they be able to silence us or ignore us as they have been doing for the past eight years and four months in Israel."