Dvora Gonen, mother of Danny Gonen who was murdered in a terrorist attack near the town of Dolev in 2015, on Monday condemned the government’s decision to restore full supply of electricity to Gaza.
"This is the wrong decision and unfortunately, it is not the first mistake made by the Israeli government. The electricity is restored to them without our boys returning home. My heart goes out to the Goldin, Shaul and Megistu families," Gonen told Arutz Sheva.
Hamas has been holding the bodies of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul since Operation Protective Edge in 2014. In addition, two Israeli civilians who went missing in Gaza - Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed - are believed to be held by Hamas as well.
Gonen opined that the government should have acted in a more courageous manner vis-à-vis the electricity in Gaza.
"We saw the courage of President Trump, who halts the transfer of money to them. We should have insisted on restoring the electricity on condition that they give us back the boys. If they do not return the boys to us - why are they getting their electricity back? We have so many things we want from them and in the meantime, all we do is give to them [without getting anything in return]. This is irrational conduct by the Israeli government with respect to the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas regime,” she said.
Last month, Arab vandals smashed the memorial to Gonen’s son Danny, the fourth time it has been vandalized. Gonen told Arutz Sheva that no progress has been made in restoring the memorial.
"At the moment, the authorities are considering what to do. I think that we must not give up and I believe that in the end they will restore the memorial. They have to find the criminals so they can receive the punishment they deserve and they need to put up the infrastructure to protect the memorial.”
"I understand that this is an economic consideration, where to put the money - on the memorial or elsewhere – but I think the visibility is also important as well as the message that no matter how many times they try to get us out of there - we will come back again," concluded Gonen.