At a special ceremony held outside the Prime Minister’s residence, more than 400 combat soldiers and officers who fought during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, returned their medals that they received for participating in the war effort in protest of the bodies of their comrades still missing. The protestors claimed that the war was not over until the remains of their fallen comrades, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, and first sergeant Oron Shaul, were returned to Israel for a proper burial. The bodies were captured by Hamas during the war, and have been held by Hamas ever since.

First Sergeant Or Cohen, who enlisted with Goldin and served in the same Givati unit as Goldin said: “Today marks the fourth anniversary of the beginning of Operation Protective Edge. In addition to it having been a military operation, it was also a moral one that revolved around the ethos that we can live free in our own land. The IDF went into battle and all of the soldiers who participated were willing to give their lives to safeguard the lives of Israel’s citizens so that we may live as a free nation. We still hold by those ideals. But it is now four years later and we can no longer remain quiet while the ideals of our nation are being trampled upon. We are here today to remind the Prime Minister that the operation isn’t over until Goldin and Shaul are returned home. They fought on our behalfs and it is our responsibility to bring them home.”

“As soldiers, and now reservists, we fought and continue to fight with the unwritten understanding that we will sacrifice our lives if needed to protect the borders of our country, and our country will bring us back hme, dead or alive, at the end of the campaign,” Cohen added. “We, therefore, bequeath these medals to you, Mr. Prime Minister, until the end of the campaign when Golding and Shaul are brought home. nly then will the operation truly be over.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)