Family slams PM at Hadar Goldin memorial
Goldin family marks 4 years since Hadar was killed in Gaza, criticizes government for failing to return his body for burial; 'PM enjoys World Cup while bereaved families mourn'; Education Minister Bennett: 'World condemns our Gaza policy, but it is immoral to spare terrorists and endanger our citizens.'
"It's very hard to see the prime minister and his wife watching the World Cup in Russia when we, the bereaved families, are going from one memorial service to the next," Prof. Goldin said.
"Hadar has been in Hamas hands for four years now. The Israeli government, which sent him to battle, is failing in bringing him back. Instead of following the directive to leave no soldier behind, the prime minister makes excuses, invents intimidations and makes threats," Goldin lamented.
"My brothers, the fighters, do not despair. We and you deserve a more moral leadership, we will build it. We will educate our leaders—this is the role of the public. 'Hadar's Order' will do that. We start here," he continued.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached an agreement after Operation Protective Edge, leaving two soldiers in the enemy's hands. What did you fear? Why were you in such rush? This will not happen again. The prime minister promised us three and a half years ago that any deal concerning Gaza would have a precondition. We believed him because we assumed that a person who speaks so much about soldiers and bereavement will not lie to a bereaved family," Goldin accused.
According to the Goldin, "This prime minister abandoned all of his promises when he signed the reparations deal with the Turks. Had the prime minister kept his commitment, Hamas would've understood and we wouldn't have had to fight with (incendiary) balloons today."
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who delivered remarks at the memorial service on behalf of the government, addressed the Gaza crisis. “The world condemns our Gaza policy as morally wrong. But I have news for our detractors: what is immoral is to stand on the sidelines and do nothing as the Gaza border area burns. It is to have mercy on terrorists from Gaza and not on children in southern Israel.”
Referring to the incendiary balloon which landed in a kindergarten yard in the Moshav Tekuma, Bennett said, “I will be clear: It is preferred that we be subject to world condemnation for killing those who launched the burning kites rather than mourn children who are, God forbid, hurt in school. Those who launch the balloons at our children are terrorists and should be eliminated. Our highest ideal, similar to all who seek life, is not to have mercy on our enemies but rather to protect our citizens; and so we shall do."
Talking about Goldin, Bennett lamented, “Four years have passed since Hadar fell in battle, four years without a grave, without an address for the tears. In an interview before his death, Hadar said: ‘We were raised on the love for the land and the nation, our grandparents who survived the Holocaust fought in the War of Independence, our dad was a Lt. Col. in the reserves force, this is the type of home (I am from).’ The impressive stature of Hadar is clear from his words, a good Zionist, with ideals, practical, a real man.”
Ayelet Kaufman, Hadar’s sister, said in tears, "I am trying to talk to you, to revive you with endless longing, and to tell you about us. I do not know where to start. The first and craziest thing is the pregnancy and birth of my twins Neta and Yair. It is painful that you do not know them, it is the first time that something momentous has happened to me in my life, and you are not part of it, but it is impossible to express how much you are present as their uncle."
Tzur, Hadar’s twin brother, mentioned that those who knew him surely know that Hadar would be displeased by all the attention paid to him. He turned to his parents saying: “We are proud of you. Four years of responsibility, to explain the obvious and return (Hadar) home… Thank you for the commitment, for the lesson in moral values; and most important, remember to love. Hadar, four years that we are striving to be as you would want us to be, with love and longing, Tzur.”
Lt. Eitan Pund, the officer who ran into the Rafah tunnel where Goldin lost his life, for which he received the Medal of Honor, said: "I do not forget Hadar, I do not forget that we were unable to bring Hadar back home. The Goldin family was transformed from a bereaved family to a captive one.”
