Hadar Goldin's family demands cabinet meeting over return of son's body
Along with the demand, the family is pressuring the Israeli government to use the conditions of convicted terrorists in Israeli prisoners as a means to pressure Hamas.
By ELIYAHU KAMISHERUpdated: AUGUST 19, 2016 00:12Sec.-Lt. Hadar Goldin.(photo credit: Courtesy)
The family of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed during Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, and whose body is still held by Hamas, on Thursday demanded that the cabinet meet to discuss the conditions of convicted terrorists in Israeli jails and the policy on returning slain terrorists’ bodies to their families.“Any decision to return terrorists’ bodies must be made after a discussion in which ministers receive all the information about the condition of Oron and Hadar,” the Goldin family said in a statement, referring also to Golani Brigade fighter Sgt.Oron Shaul, whose body also remains in Hamas hands after being killed in Gaza City’s Shejaia neighborhood during the war two years ago, aged 22.The Goldin family’s demand comes after hundreds attended a memorial service at the Kfar Saba military cemetery on August 9 marking two years since Hadar, 23, from the Givati Brigade, was killed and his body taken by Hamas in Rafah on August 1, 2014.At the memorial, Hadar’s twin brother, Tzur, urgently called for politicians to secure Hadar’s release. “Every day that passes is another one in which we have not fulfilled our obligations to our citizens,” he said according to Yediot Aharonot.The family is also pressuring the government to use the conditions of convicted terrorists in Israeli prisoners as a means to pressure Hamas.“It’s time for the Israeli government to internalize it has the tools in its hand to exert pressure on Hamas in order to return Oron and Hadar home,” the Goldin family said.The family argued that the conditions of the prisoners are too comfortable and privileges should be taken away until information on the slain soldiers is received.“It is unacceptable that Hamas terrorists sit in Israeli prisons and receive a package of services that includes special food, watching entertainment programs on television, and the possibility of academic studies, while the people of Israel and we the families of Oron and Hadar do not have a sliver of information about their condition,” the Goldin family said.
