Hundreds Turn Out to Honor IDF Soldier Whose Body is Held by Hamas

The Times of Israel reports: Hundreds of people, including a number of government ministers, turned out Tuesday for a memorial ceremony for Lt. Hadar Goldin, an IDF soldier killed in the 2014 war in Gaza, whose body is still held by the Hamas terror group.

Ministers Ayelet Shaked, Tzachi Hanegbi and Yoav Galant, as well as Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Michael Oren took part in the memorial at the Kfar Saba military cemetery. Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, a relative of the Goldins, also paid his respects.

“You live among us all the time,” Hadar’s sister Ayelet Kaufman said over her brother’s empty grave.

“You were a lighthouse and now you’re not here, the lighthouse is suddenly missing,” she said. “There’s a huge, inconceivable gulf between the desire to stand with my [surviving] brother at the memorial… just for the family, and the cameras.”

Goldin’s father Simha said that “in the name of the pact between soldiers and their commanders, I remind that the IDF left two bodies in Gaza and in Rafah. In the name of the holy trust between parents and the state’s leaders, I promise you that we’ll bring back Hadar for burial in Israel. We will do this in Hadar’s way, with strength and humility. We won’t rest and we won’t be deterred.”