As Israel prepares to mark Yom Hazikaron and celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut next week, the family of Hadar Goldin, an AMIT alumnus and soldier whose remains are being held captive in Gaza, is launching a new campaign to press for greater action in getting him back.
Goldin’s family and the organization dedicated to securing his return, headed by Colonel (res.) Erez Wiener, started an online fundraising campaign [LINK https://www.headstart.co.il/project.aspx?id=26595] aimed at creating increased awareness and public pressure.
Their objective is to raise NIS 400,000 (about $114,000) to create a group of activists, “an army of Israeli volunteers, whose goal will be to initiate, manage and maintain a variety of activities to return Hadar, Oron [Shaul] and Israeli citizens [being held in Gaza] within the Israeli and international public arenas,” according to the fundraising page on the Headstart website.
The funds collected through the project will be used for operational purposes, as well as to organize events, create public relations materials and recruit thousands of volunteers to persuade the government to exert pressure on Hamas, to carry out the decisions of the political-security cabinet and to continue working in the international arena.
On August 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, two hours after Hamas agreed to a cease-fire, terrorists ambushed three Israeli soldiers from a tunnel located in the basement of a house in Gaza. The terrorists killed two soldiers and shot Goldin, a lieutenant in the Givati Brigade, dragging him into a tunnel.
He has since been declared killed in action and his remains are being held by Hamas as a bargaining chip, along with those of Oron Shaul, who was killed in Gaza in July 2014.
Goldin’s family has worked tirelessly to pressure the Israeli government to do more, and Goldin’s AMIT alma mater, AMIT Gwen Straus in Ra’anana, has also actively campaigned for the return of his body to Israel.
In February, students at the school called on the government to take measures to punish Hamas until the soldiers’ bodies are returned.