Simcha and Leah Goldin next to a picture of their son, Hadar
Goldin family to pitch weekly protest tent near Gaza Strip
In latest attempts to raise awareness of their plight, Leah and Simcha Goldin step up campaign by staging protest every Friday near Gaza, where their son Hadar was killed and his remains snatched during Operation Protective Edge.
The family of Sgt. Hadar Goldin, whose body was captured by Hamas terrorists during fighting in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, has decided to boost their campaign to secure their son’s return by erecting a protest tent near the Gaza Strip every Friday.
The tent will also be part of a demonstration to bring back Oron Shaul, whose remains were also abducted by the Gaza-ruling group, which has since refused to return their bodies.
The first protest will take place this Friday at the “Black Arrow” memorial near the coastal enclave, which was created in honor of IDF paratroopers who fell during reprisal attacks in August 1954, along with those who fell during Operation Black Arrow in Gaza in 1955 and the Sinai campaign of 1956.
Hadar Goldin (L) and Oron Shaul
The operation was an assault on the Egyptian army, which left 38 Egyptian soldiers and eight Israeli soldiers dead.
The protesters will be joined by Goldin’s parents, Leah and Simcha, along with former defense minister MK Amir Peretz, who also sits on the Knesset Lobby to Bring the Soldiers Home.
Leah and Simcha Goldin (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin will also attend the opening protest, which will be joined by singer Elchai Refoua, who was under Goldin’s command during the summer offensive in Gaza.
In January, Goldin's parents, who have grown increasingly frustrated with the Israeli government's refusal to take more drastic measures against the Gaza Strip in order to force their son's release, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act for their son as if he were his own, while accusing him of systematically failing to support efforts for his body's return to Israel.
Avera Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian origin, who also languishes in Hamas captivity ever since he voluntarily crossed the border into Gaza on September 7, 2014, was discussed on Wednesday during a trip by President Reuven Rivlin, who is currently on a state visit to Ethiopia. The Mengistu family say that Avera suffers frm mental problems.
Averah Mengistu
“Avera Mengistu is an Israeli citizen with roots in Ethiopia, but before anything else he is a human being and I also ask you to do everything possible to exert the necessary pressure on Hamas to release him,” Rivlin exhorted the Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome.
“This is a humanitarian issue and we must join forces to bring about his return, together with our two soldiers who have been held by Hamas since the last round of fighting in Gaza.”
