Some 1,000 people, including ministers, MKs, public figures and military officers gathered at the Kfar Saba Military Cemetery on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of Givati Brigade Lt. Hadar Goldin's death. Goldin was killed during Operation Protective Edge, waged in the Gaza Strip in 2014. His remains, along with those of Golani Brigade Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, are currently held by Hamas. "Hadar, if you were here, you would be shocked at how many people came to give us strength, at all the friends and family who care," Ayelet Kaufman, Goldin's sister, said at the memorial service. "It's so powerful." "I try to remove myself from a reality in which my little brother's body is thrown aside somewhere, maybe buried, maybe not," she added. ""Thanks to you, our goal is to bring the Israeli people together, and here, today, this is proof that our people are indeed united. "There's a tremendous, incredible disparity between our desire to remember Hadar and be a simple family that mourns over his grave, and what we are forced to do day in and day out. There is a disparity between our desire to pay our respects and remember Hadar, and having to chase after ministers to attend the ceremony -- it is tearing us up inside," she said. Goldin's twin brother, Tzur, also spoke at the ceremony, saying that "over the last two years, we've found ourselves meeting with MKs and ministers, heads of state, generals and media types on a daily basis; being interviewed every other day and giving speeches. We never would have thought we would need to remind people of that which should go without saying. "To the ministers and MKs who came here, I say: We appreciate you coming here today to honor Hadar, but remember -- you are not here in a ceremonial role. You chose public life, and that means something. You came here not to share in the pain of the families, but to take action. Every day that goes by without meaningful progress is a day in which you betrayed your duty to the public. Do not give up on what is really important," he said. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi), who addressed the mourners as well, remarked that "Hadar, may his memory be a blessing, chose to inscribe his weapon with the words 'In strength and humility' to demonstrate his desire to stick to his beliefs. We are left with the one most important mission -- to bring him and Oron Shaul back home. A formative principle in the Jewish ethos is the redemption of captives. To bring a body home for burial." Likud Minister Tzachi Hanegbi began his remarks with a quote from Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who famously said that "War is evil." "Hadar, beautiful in personality and in life, did not return from the evil war," Hanegbi went on to say. "Fate was cruel to the Goldin family and to the 71 other families whose loved ones fell in Operation Protective Edge. The principle of mutual accountability places a responsibility on each one of us to remember and commemorate and not to forget. We must act to bring Hadar and Oron back home." In a ceremony that followed the memorial service in a nearby park, Hadar's father, Simcha, said: "There is a pact between soldiers and their commanders. There is an eternal covenant between the parents and the country's leadership. In the name of the covenant between the fighters and the commanders, I remind everyone that the IDF left two bodies in Gaza and Rafah. In the name of the holy pact between parents and the country's leadership, I swear to you that we will bring Hadar home for burial in Israel." Construction Minister Yoav Galant (Kulanu), Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (Habayit Hayehudi), MK Revital Swid (Zionist Union), former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, and Kfar Saba Mayor Yehuda Ben-Hamo also attended the memorial service.
