Leah Goldin attacks gov't officials for failing to negotiate return of son

Goldin lashes at anyone who refers to her son as dead, saying that a soldier who went out to defend the country and did not return is missing in action.

Leah Goldin, mother of Hadar, speaks at a press conference, August 5, 2018 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Leah Goldin, mother of Hadar, speaks at a press conference, August 5, 2018
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The mother of Hadar Goldin, Leah, whose son's remains have been in Hamas' possession since 2014, sharply criticized the Israeli government on Thursday for failing to negotiate for the return of her son during the IDF Operation Guardian of the Walls.
Goldin spoke with Ron Kaufman on 103FM and called out the Israeli government for allowing the entry of goods into Gaza Strip before the return of her son's remains from Hamas.
Goldin is known for lashing out at anyone who refers to her son as dead, saying that a soldier who went out to defend the country and did not return should be considered missing in action.
  
According to the IDF, Lt. Goldin was abducted and killed during Operation Protective Edge in a Hamas attack on August 1, 2014, when he was 23 years old. He was abducted during a UN and US-mandated, EU-supported, humanitarian ceasefire.
There has been no indication that the government is negotiating for the return of his body.
Goldin said during the interview that her son has been missing for seven years, and for the first time in the history of the country during a war it was declared not to be a priority to return the bodies of missing soldiers.
"This is our reality, seven years of contempt and disgust," she said to Kaufman.
Goldin went after Defense Minister Benny Gantz, noting that he was the one who sent Hadar to Gaza while chief of staff of the IDF, along with the current Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, who headed the intelligence unit of the IDF at the time.
She noted that the perception that the 2014 ceasefire would be honored by Hamas was equivalent to sending her son "like a duck to the range."
Goldin added that Gantz refuses to meet with her family, and Israeli officials do not tell them anything.
She said these officials are criminals against IDF soldiers, that she refuses to close the accounts of what happened, calling on public support to stop the government from further "humiliating" the families of abducted soldiers

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Golding argued that Israel should halt shipments of aid filled with vaccines to the Gaza Strip that will make them stronger and able to "fire missiles and explosive balloons at us."
"They're criminals against IDF soldiers. I don't want to forget everything that happened," she said. 
She also noted that Kohavi has made no effort to contact her family regarding the return of her son.
"This morning I sent him a letter and asked to meet urgently," Goldin said. "This is the first thing Israel needs to say. First, return the bodies of the soldiers you abducted from us. It is not possible to sign a ceasefire agreement before resolving the previous ceasefire, because it means that we agree to a ceasefire," with a terror organization that "will kidnap and kill our soldiers."