Leah Goldin, the mother of the recovered IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin, recounted Monday night in a Channel 12 interview the “feeling of victory” she felt after her son was returned following more than 10 years in Hamas captivity.
Hadar Goldin was killed in action during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in the central city of Kfar Saba on Nov. 11, after 4,118 days in Gaza.
“I had never been in a moment like this in my life. It wasn’t heartbreaking, it was some kind of feeling of victory,” Leah Goldin said of the moment when she first saw her son at Camp Shura, which serves as the National Center for the Treatment of Fallen Soldiers of Israel.
Goldin’s body was wrapped in burial shrouds. “These dear people told me, ‘Touch him. This is Hadar. Hadar is here,’ and suddenly they called him by his name,” she continued.
She then touched his hand and told him that she had always loved him, according to the report.
She went on to say that since her son was brought home, “Something has calmed. It feels much more natural.” Hadar’s burial site is located a few dozen feet from Leah Goldin’s home in Kfar Saba.
The mother shared that her biggest disappointment was during the coronavirus pandemic. Israel delivered batches of vaccines into Gaza despite an explicit promise, according to Goldin, that the transfer would be made only in exchange for her son and the body of IDF Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who also fell in battle during “Operation Protective Edge.”
“What reason in the world is there to give our enemies vaccines, and to continue allowing them to hold my child—our soldiers?” she said.
