Sara Netanyahu reportedly spats with mother of Hadar Goldin
Lt. Hadar Goldin, the son of Leah, was killed by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014 and his body has been held in the coastal enclave since.
By AVRAHAM GOLDUpdated: AUGUST 7, 2018 22:12Sara Netanyahu (L) Leah Goldin (R)(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/REUTERS)
Sara Netanyahu told Leah Goldin in June 2017 her public campaign to return the body of her son from the Gaza Strip only "damages" the efforts to do so, Channel 2 reported on Tuesday.Lt. Hadar Goldin, the son of Leah, was killed by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014 and his body has been held in the coastal enclave since.In a heated conversation, in which sources close to the Goldin family told Channel 2 "the conversation rose to very high and shrill tones," Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife, went on the offensive against Goldin."Stop dealing with the prime minister like this, it only damages your efforts to bring back Hadar," Netanyahu reportedly said.Netanyahu also reportedly took umbrage with the Goldin family attacks on former envoy for captives and missing persons, Col. (res.) Lior Lotan, as the Goldin family claimed the envoy was being handcuffed by the state and unable to advance talks. After Lotan resigned from his post in August, the Goldin family expressed their appreciation of Lotan and the work he did but also said that they “feel abandoned by the government.”Netanyahu's office repudiated the claims, telling the news station, "such a conversation did not occur.""On the other hand, there was a conversation between Sara Netanyahu and Leah Goldin during which she told Leah Goldin during [US] President Donald Trump's visit to Israel [in May 2017], Mrs. Netanyahu gave First Lady Melania Trump a picture of the boys and asked her to work in any way to bring them back. Such was the discussion and not as described," the prime minister's office claimed.Leah Goldin, alongside her husband and the parents of another captive, Oron Shaul, demonstrated in front of the prime minister's residence on Sunday, requesting the government not strike any deal with Hamas that does not include the return of their sons' bodies. She told The Jerusalem Post in July it was "upsetting that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu never used the word ‘humanitarian’ in Hadar’s case" when her family skipped the official memorial service for soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge. Instead, the families demonstrated in front of the Netanyahu residence.The prime minister's office said the Netanyahu family "feels the pain of the Goldin and Shaul families" and that the prime minister "works tirelessly" to bring the captured soldiers back.
The Goldin family declined to comment to Channel 2 on Tuesday's report, saying it "will continue to wage a moral struggle and free of politics in order to restore Hamas from Gaza."
