Parents of Hadar Goldin: Netanyahu has abandoned our son

IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, whose bodies were abducted in 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, are reportedly not included in the hostage deal.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of abandoning their son “for good” after reports emerged that his body was not included in the hostage deal with Hamas that was announced Wednesday.

“For 10 years, it was made clear to us that the [Palestinian] prisoners released in the Gilad Shalit deal who were returned to prison during Operation Protective Edge would not be released except in exchange for Hadar and Oron [Shaul],” Simcha and Leah Goldin said.

In 2011, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been grabbed five years earlier by Hamas terrorists who attacked his tank near the Gazan border, was released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, the future leader of Hamas and mastermind of the October 7, 2023, invasion in which 1,200 people were massacred and the current hostages were abducted.

Several dozen of the released prisoners were arrested in subsequent years after returning to their terrorist activity.

“Now, Netanyahu is releasing the terrorists who were returned to prison and not returning Hadar and Oron. For us, Hadar and Oron have been abandoned for good,” the bereaved parents said.

Sgt. Oron Shaul’s body was abducted on July 20, 2014, shortly after the operation against Hamas began, while fighting in Shejaya in northern Gaza. Terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at his armored personnel carrier, killing all those inside.

Less than two weeks later, Goldin was killed while on patrol in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Hamas terrorists grabbed his body and disappeared with it into a tunnel.

The Goldins’ conclusion was stark: “Hamas cares for its terrorists more than Netanyahu cares for his soldiers. Benjamin, not Yoni.”

Yonatan (Yoni) Netanyahu, a brother of the prime minister, led the famed IDF raid on the Entebbe airport in 1976 to rescue 94 Jewish passengers. They were being held hostage by terrorists of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who had hijacked their Air France plane and diverted it to Uganda.

He was the only soldier to die in the operation, which was posthumously named for him. One elderly hostage, who had been taken to the hospital, was murdered in revenge afterward.

Two psychologically impaired Israelis who have been held alive in Gaza for years are included in the current deal.

Avera Mengistu, of Ethiopian origin, and Hisham al-Sayed, a Bedouin, were seized by Hamas in 2014 and 2015 respectively after wandering into the coastal enclave on their own.

In June 2022, Hamas released a video showing Al-Sayed in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask and an IV drip in his arm.

In January 2023, the terrorists released an undated video message that included Mengistu briefly asking how long he would remain a prisoner “after so many years of pain and suffering.”

Likud MK Tsega Melaku told Israel National News on Thursday that she had received an excited and emotional phone call from Mengistu’s mother saying that “official sources” had informed her that her son was to be released along with the other Hamas hostages.

The Goldins, who have tirelessly campaigned throughout the years of operations against Hamas that no ceasefire deal should be signed unless the terrorists return the bodies of their son and Shaul, have largely kept out of the media during the current war.