Ayelet Goldin, sister of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, spoke Saturday evening at a demonstration at Hostages Square, promising her brother that his body would come home to Israel for burial.
"I was afraid the square would be empty," she began. "But this deal brought 20 miracles - 20 living, walking people pulled from the depths - and yet it left fallen hostages in the hands of Hamas. Hamas, which has held my brother as a symbol for 11 years. We still have 18 hostages to bring home."
"My mother and other mothers stood in the Knesset and witnessed the tearing down of photos of their children who haven't returned. There is an effort here to erase memory. We even received letters from the Education Ministry claiming all the hostages have returned, when 18 of them are still there. The day is not far off when they'll tell us, 'We did everything,' and I’ve already been in the hands of that 'everything'. I'm terrified of that 'everything.'"
"This is the last battle, the least glamorous one. There will be no hugs here, only bowed heads and final honors. This is the rear-guard battle, and it has a time limit. Stay alert, pay attention to the pressure campaign. From the moment the 20 came back, we’ve seen countless articles about people not able to locate the deceased. It’s a blatant lie; Hamas knows everything. Just as they knew how to bring back the 20 living [hostages], they also know the location of the 18 fallen still held. Hamas' problem isn’t knowledge, it’s motivation. They’ve held my brother as a symbol for 11 years already."
“We need you. Don’t fall asleep at your post. I’m terrified of the day they’ll say ‘we did everything,’ because we’ve already been there. before My Hadar - my little brother, greater than me in spirit - I’m with you. The people are with you. We said we would bring you home, and that's what will happen.”
Hadar was killed and abducted during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. The IDF recovered the body of Oron Shaul, a second soldier killed during the same operation, was recovered earlier this year.