Leah Goldin, mother of Hadar Goldin—held hostage in Gaza for over a decade—revealed that Israeli officials warned her not to advocate for his release, fearing Hamas would demand even more terrorists in exchange for his body.

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“Israel is demanding something basic, moral, human—to return our boys and girls home,” said Israeli  Ambassador Danny Danon.

By Vita Fellig, JNS

The United Nations Security Council is slated to convene on Thursday to discuss the return of the bodies of hostages whom Hamas holds—the first such meeting to be scheduled since Oct. 7, the Israeli mission to the global body told JNS.

The meeting, for which Washington called, is scheduled to discuss Resolution 2474, which addresses returning bodies of missing people held by hostile parties amid armed conflict.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told JNS that the discussion of the resolution will be the “result of a determined and uncompromising political struggle.”

“For months, we have been crying out the cry of the hostage families and the world can no longer remain silent,” the envoy said. “Hamas has turned the kidnapping of bodies into a sick industry. They do not treat the dead with respect. They treat them like inventory.”

The dignity of the dead is a sacred value in every religion, according to Danon.

“It is impossible to demand human rights on the one hand and accept the possession of bodies by a Nazi terrorist organization on the other,” he told JNS. “Israel is demanding something basic, moral, human—to return our boys and girls home.”

If the Security Council is unable to meet “this basic commitment, it loses its relevance,” Danon said.

Leah Goldin, the mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose remains Hamas have been held in the Gaza Strip since 2014, is traveling from Israel to New York and is slated to hold a press conference on Thursday with Danon, per the Israeli mission to the global body.

Ruby Chen, the father of the Israeli-American hostage Itay Chen, whose body is being held in Gaza, is slated to address the Security Council.

Per the Security Council’s website, it is scheduled to hold its 9,917th meeting on “protection of civilians in armed conflict” at 3 p.m.

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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.

The post Parents of Hadar Goldin: Netanyahu has abandoned our son appeared first on World Israel News.

The mother of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, who was killed and had his body kidnapped by Hamas in 2014, speaks to i24NEWS after the Palestinian terror group revealed new details about her son’s abduction.

The post ‘A BLOODY DAY’: Hamas reveals what is says are new details of IDF soldier’s kidnapping appeared first on World Israel News.

The Israeli president is bringing Leah Goldin, mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip in 2014 and whose body is being held by the Hamas terrorist group.

By JNS

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will depart for the United States on Monday where he is scheduled to visit the White House and address a joint session of Congress.

Herzog’s trip to Washington and New York this week is meant to strengthen the ties between the two countries, “which are placed above all controversy,” his office said.

He will meet with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other senior officials during the visit, which wraps up after he spends Shabbat in New York. He will address Congress on Tuesday.

“I am very much looking forward to representing the entire nation of Israel as president of the State of Israel before the elected representatives of the American people, to mark the 75th anniversary of the State of Israel,” Herzog said ahead of the trip.

“The United States is Israel’s closest and most important friend and partner. The relationship between our countries is unique in its strength, which has rightly made it an unassailable alliance.

“I thank the leadership of the United States Congress, led by Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and his predecessor Nancy Pelosi, for the historic privilege to address a joint session of both Houses of Congress marking the 75th anniversary of the State of Israel.”

The president will be accompanied on the trip by his older brother, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, and outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides. Isaac Herzog is also bringing Leah Goldin, the mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip in 2014 and whose body is being held by the Hamas terrorist group.

It will be the second address ever given to a joint session of Congress by an Israeli president. The Herzog brothers’ father, Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of Israel, delivered the first address in 1988.

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“The prime minister must put Hadar on the table as a condition for ending the war,” the bereaved mother said.

By JNS

Leah Goldin, the mother of Givati Brigade Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip in 2014, said on Thursday that the return of his remains must be part of any deal to end the current round of warfare between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Hadar’s body is being held by the Hamas terrorist rulers of the Gaza Strip along with that of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was also killed in 2014.

“The prime minister must put Hadar on the table as a condition for ending the war,” Goldin told 103FM Radio. She called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to be brave and to bring back the soldiers.”

A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that Hamas is not involved in the rocket fire from Gaza during this round of fighting with Israel.

Egypt is trying to broker a ceasefire. Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Thursday continued to fire rockets and rockets at Israeli communities while the IDF targeted PIJ terrorist sites in the Strip.

Hadar Goldin was killed in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, during “Operation Protective Edge.”

Shaul, a member of the IDF’s Golani infantry brigade, died in the Battle of Shejaia in Gaza City.

Their bodies were taken by the terrorists and are being held to this day.

Hamas is also holding two live Israeli civilians, both mentally ill, Avera Mengistu, who crossed into the Strip in 2014, and Hisham al-Sayed, who entered the enemy enclave in 2015.

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Leah Goldin, mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose body has been held by Hamas for over eight years, called the meeting “a breakthrough.”

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In a meeting in the Vatican Wednesday morning with the families of Israelis being held by Hamas, Pope Francis vowed to work for their release through both official and non-official channels.

“The Pope promised to work with governments and religious leaders, including Muslim leaders, to bring back the sons,” said a statement by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

The Gaza-based terror organization is holding the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014’s Operation Cast Lead, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, as well as two live prisoners, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, two men with mental health issues who crossed over the border in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Just last week, Hamas attempted to turn up the pressure for a prisoner swap, presenting Goldin’s rifle at a Gaza rally marking the organization’s 35th anniversary.

“We are giving the occupation a limited period of time to complete a prisoner deal,” Hamas head Yahya Sinwar announced to the cheering crowd.

Although Mengistu and al-Sayed had never served in the IDF, Sinwar added, “Otherwise, we will close the file of the four soldiers forever.”

The pontiff took the time to speak to every family member during the 45-minute visit, and he was especially empathetic to the victims’ mothers, saying, “It is so difficult to comfort a mother’s tears,” according to the Israeli embassy to the Vatican.

The mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, Leah, was interviewed after the visit on Radio 103FM and called it “a meeting we had dreamed of,” since “all Israeli politicians and decision-makers” have disappointed the families by “serving their own interests” and refusing to obey the law “that forbids giving anything to Gaza without demanding the return of our sons.”

The families decided that they needed to use “indirect levers” instead, which included “go[ing] for the cleanest thing, called the religious plane,” she said. “And on the religious level, the duty of the mother to bury her son is indisputable.”

Calling the pontiff a “dear man” who was “full of understanding,” she was heartened by the Pope’s response.

Quoting his words that he “would work through all his religious channels, in all religions to spread the word, and help,” she labelled it “a breakthrough” that would “bring about change because it’s impossible to ignore him.”

In contrast, when asked by interviewer Ben Caspit if she had words of praise for Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who announced that Israel would keep the body of Nasser Abu Hamid, cofounder of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade terror group who died of cancer on Tuesday, as a chip to play in a possible prisoner deal, Goldin answered “no.”

“I do not approve of anything related to Benny Gantz, the current Minister of Defense, who was the Chief of Staff who sent my son to Gaza and has done nothing for eight years and four months,” she said. Moreover, he is the one “who has allowed 20,000 workers from Gaza to come in [to Israel] without demanding my son back. It’s political nonsense; I’m tired of [it].”

Ambassador Rafi Schotz, who requested the visitation in October, accompanied the families during their meeting, as did Shuli Davidovich, the Foreign Ministry’s head of the Bureau for World Jewish Affairs and World Religions.

The family members also met with Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, and other top Italian officials, as well as the heads of the Italian Jewish community.

The post Pope promises to help bring Israeli captives of Hamas home appeared first on World Israel News.

Hadar Goldin was killed by Hamas in Operation Protective Edge in 2014. His remains are still held in the Gaza Strip. His mother Leah Goldin demands that his remains be returned before a ceasefire is reached.

The post WATCH: Mother says no Hamas ceasefire until son’s remains returned home appeared first on World Israel News.

Hamas killed her son and refuses to return his remains. Leah Goldin says the Hamas ceasefire was a missed opportunity and Israel failed to ask that his body be returned.

The post WATCH: Israeli mother angered by Israel’s failure to ask Hamas for her son’s remains appeared first on World Israel News.

“How does he move heaven and earth for Naama – a criminal who received a pardon – and does nothing to bring back the soldiers?” said Leah Goldin.

By World Israel News Staff

Leah Goldin, the mother of slain IDF soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin whose body is still being held by Hamas, expressed her dismay with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for pulling all the strings to free Naama Issachar while not doing enough in her view to get back the body of her son.

“How does he move heaven and earth for Naama [Issachar] – a criminal who received a pardon – and does nothing to bring back the soldiers?” she charged during an interview on Channel 12 News.

“Naama’s story – my heart is with them and I understand the mother and I am excited and crying with her. But my son, who was sent by Netanyahu to Gaza, has been there for 2,000 days,” she said.

Hadar Goldin was killed in 2014 amid a UN-brokered ceasefire during Operation Protective Edge. Since then, Hamas has refused to return his body, along with the body of IDF soldier Oron Shaul. The terror group is also holding captive two mentally ill civilians, presumed to be alive, who crossed into Gaza on their own in 2014 and 2015 – Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

The Goldin family has repeatedly called on Netanyahu to abide by a 2017 cabinet decision not to give back Hamas terrorists’ bodies until they release the soldiers’ remains.

On Nov. 17, 2019, Netanyahu met with the parents of the two murdered soldiers, during which he reportedly promised them that he will never agree to a long-term ceasefire with Hamas unless their sons’ bodies were returned,, He also vowed to never return the bodies of terrorists back to Gaza.

Prior to the meeting, Goldin’s parents told the media what they hoped would result from the session.

“After five years and four months in which nothing has really been done, we expect to hear from Netanyahu when he will return the soldiers and civilians who are in the hands of Hamas,” they said at the time.

On July 17, 2019, Netanyahu arranged a private meeting with all four grieving families. Goldin’s mother left the meeting only half an hour after it began to tell the press that the whole purpose of the meeting was to silence the families shortly before the anniversary of Operation Protective Edge.

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The Goldin family has repeatedly called on Netanyahu to abide by a 2017 cabinet decision not to give back Hamas terrorists’ bodies until IDF soldiers’ remains are returned.

By World Israel News Staff

Leah and Dr. Simcha Goldin, the parents of slain IDF soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin whose body is still being held by Hamas, took to Twitter on Wednesday to decry the government’s recent move to ease restrictions on imports and exports from Gaza.

“Every [Israeli] mother should know that Gazan strawberries and krembo are worth more than an IDF soldier or Israeli citizen,” they wrote in reference to the shipments of fruit and cream-topped, chocolate-covered cookies that Gaza recently sold to the Gulf States and Europe.

Israel’s Security Cabinet is meeting on Wednesday to discuss a possible long-term ceasefire with Hamas. IDF Chief-of-Staff Aviv Kochavi has expressed support for an arrangement with the terror group.

Hadar Goldin was killed in 2014 amid a U.N.-brokered ceasefire during Operation Protective Edge. Since then, Hamas has refused to return his body, along with the body of IDF soldier Oron Shaul. The terror group is also holding captive two living mentally ill civilians who crossed into Gaza on their own in 2014 and 2015 respectively, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

The Goldin family has repeatedly called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abide by a 2017 Cabinet decision not to give back Hamas terrorists’ bodies until they release the soldiers’ remains.

Many IDF soldiers who risked their lives in Operation Protective Edge have also expressed their outrage over the government’s inaction.

On July 9, 2018, a small, plain box was placed at the gate of the prime minister’s residence. Inside it was 400 medals and battle pins awarded to officers, non-coms and soldiers for various battles they had fought for Israel.

Twenty reserve soldiers who fought in Operation Protective Edge went in person to Balfour Street in Jerusalem to deliver the box to the prime minister. Denied entry by the security guards, they proceeded to read a letter addressed to Netanyahu in which they expressed their anger and frustration over the fact that four years after the war ended, Shaul’s and Goldin’s bodies have not yet been returned.

“We, former soldiers who presently serve as reservists, enlisted knowing there is an unwritten agreement between the State and its soldiers that it is obligated to bring us home after the war, whether dead or alive,” the letter said.

On Aug. 5, 2018, Netanyahu arranged a private meeting with the four grieving families. Leah Goldin, left the meeting only half an hour after it began to tell the press that the whole purpose of the meeting was to silence the families shortly before the anniversary of Operation Protective Edge.

The post ‘Gazan strawberries worth more than an IDF soldier,’ says mother of slain officer over easing of Gaza imports appeared first on World Israel News.

Leah Goldin, whose son Lt. Hadar Goldin went missing in 2014 in the Gaza Strip during an exchange of gunfire with Hamas terrorists, addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday.

The post WATCH: Mother of missing IDF soldier to Human Rights Council – What if it was your son? appeared first on World Israel News.

At the annual memorial service for IDF Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, his father criticized Israel’s leadership for not bringing his son’s remains home.

The post Israeli MIA’s father: ‘Spirit of cowardice has taken over state’ appeared first on World Israel News.

The mother of missing soldier Hadar Goldin, presumed dead, accused the prime minister of doing nothing to retrieve her son’s body.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Leah Goldin left a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in tears Tuesday evening after accusing him of “doing nothing” for five years to retrieve her son’s body from the Hamas terrorist organization.

The meeting was held with the four families of Israelis being held for ransom in Gaza by Hamas, including the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, two soldiers killed during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, and two live young men with mental health issues who crossed the border into the enclave in 2014 and 2015 respectively — Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

Upon leaving the meeting only half an hour after it began, Leah Goldin, mother of Hadar, said, “The whole purpose of the meeting was to silence the families shortly before the anniversary of Operation Protective Edge.

She castigated Netanyahu, telling him, “I wonder why all of a sudden you remembered who we are, after five years during which you did nothing.”

In a follow-up statement by the family, they told the press, “Our feeling throughout the meeting was that the prime minister is doing all he can to make it through the next two weeks, during which the official commemoration will occur marking five years since the abduction of our son Hadar.”

“Even after this meeting, it’s still unclear to us why Netanyahu is not making the return of our sons a condition for any processes of rehabilitation and upgrading of Gaza that are happening every day, and if he intends to stand by his promise that returning the boys will be part of the arrangement with Gaza,” they said.

The Prime Minister’s Office responded that the government is doing “all it can” to retrieve all those captured by Hamas, and that the prime minister “understands the families’ pain.”

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Leah Goldin, the mother of fallen IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, whose body is held captive by Hamas along with that of Oron Shaul, discusses the dire risks posed by releasing Palestinian terrorists in prisoner swaps.

The post WATCH: Slain IDF soldier’s mother sounds alarm over release of terrorists appeared first on World Israel News.

On Wednesday, the Goldin family marked four years since their son, IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, was killed in battle and his body kidnapped by Hamas with a demonstration outside UN headquarters in Jerusalem. Hadar’s mother, Leah, sent a letter to Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, demanding her son’s body be brought home from Gaza immediately and unconditionally.

The post WATCH: Mother of slain IDF soldier demands UN help return son’s remains appeared first on World Israel News.