Channel 12 political commentator Amit Segal slammed Israel’s policy in the years that followed the abduction of Hadar Goldin, H’yd, saying that the October 7 massacre was the outcome of Israel’s weakness.

“The nerve-wracking days leading up to this [Hamas’s transfer of Goldin’s body] proved that when Israel insists, Hamas is far more flexible than it appears,” Segal stated.

“I say this with the necessary caution and perhaps the naïve belief that when Israel’s entire political-security leadership says there’s no deal and Hamas terrorists in Rafah won’t be released—they’re not lying.”

“Goldin’s return was meant to be the final exchange, the price paid in exchange for those terrorists returning as heroes. That did not happen—and embarrassingly, not because of leadership resolve, but because the deal leaked and sparked public outrage.”

“This is essentially a metaphor for the last 11 years. Israel showed terrible weakness—it kept negotiating with Hamas as a political entity, without using even any of the leverage it had to bring him back. The matter was treated as a nuisance, and sadly, the eruption of October 7 stemmed from Hamas’s conclusion: you can abduct Israelis—and then carry on as usual.”

“The monstrous thinking behind October 7 begs the question: what did they think? That we wouldn’t retaliate? And the answer is yes—they thought that. Why? Because they had proof from Goldin: we’ll kidnap 251 people, and eventually we’ll get the immunity card. And tragically, it took hundreds of dead and massive destruction to prove to them that this assumption was wrong.”

“Hamas leader Sinwar’s belief that he could carry out a massacre and remain standing was born in the abduction of Hadar Goldin,” Segal concluded

It should be noted that over the past 11 years, since their son’s body was abducted to Gaza, Simcha and Leah Goldin repeatedly warned the government that if it neglects to bring back their son along with the three other hostages in Gaza, it will result in further abductions.

In an article entitled: The Disregard That Was Paid For In Blood, Arutz Sheva journalist Chaim Lev wrote a similar message. “There is something depressing in the story of the return of fallen soldier Hadar Goldin, H’yd for kevurah in Israel,” he wrote.

“Not only because it dragged on for 4,118 days of accumulated human suffering. Not only because one family was forced to turn itself into a blazing operations center against its own government. But because anyone who bothered to pay attention saw the catastrophe speeding toward us like a freight train—and chose to look away.”

“In 2015, the Goldin family arrives in Washington and warns Evangelical Christians: first return our son, then rehabilitate Gaza. The Israeli establishment was shaken. Not by the message, but by the fact that someone dared to disrupt the pleasant quiet consensus: we’ll keep funneling billions southward, and the hostages will wait.”

“Three years later, the family petitions the Supreme Court against releasing terrorists’ bodies. The rationale was painfully simple: if you release their bodies without getting ours back, you prove that the equation is equal. More precisely—not equal. The other side gets everything; we continue waiting.“

“The government rejected it. The court dodged it. The media ignored it. No one wanted to hear the solid logic: if you abandon hostages, there will be more hostages. This is not a complex philosophical idea. It’s third-grade math.”

“Another year passes; the family files yet another petition—to block the entry of goods into Gaza until the fallen soldiers are returned. The response was almost uniform: impractical. Inhumane. It will cause escalation. As if holding soldiers in tunnels is an exercise in humanitarianism.”

“But what truly enraged the establishment wasn’t the petitions. It was that the family refused to play by the accepted script. They didn’t demand prisoner releases. They didn’t ask to ‘pay any price.’ They demanded the opposite—to stop paying. To cease funneling resources to the murderers who hold our sons. To condition every crossing, every truck, every shekel—on their return.”

“This was unforgivable. Because it contradicted the mantra that ‘economic prosperity will bring quiet.’ Because it threatened a policy adopted by governments from the right and the left for years: pour in money and hope for the best. Don’t ruin the ‘understanding.'”

“In 2020, COVID breaks out. The family petitions against transferring vaccines to Gaza. The petition is rejected. Hamas receives vaccines; Israel continues to wait for the bodies. There is no logic. But who needs logic when there is ‘humanitarian responsibility’?”

“And then came October 7. And suddenly everyone understood. Suddenly, common sense flashed back—only at the infuriating price of 1,200 dead and 251 hostages. Suddenly, it became clear that when you abandon one soldier, it’s not a ‘localized incident’; it’s a strategic catalyst. Suddenly, everything the Goldin family had shouted for a decade sounded true.”

“But no one admitted it. No one apologized. No one said, ‘You were right.’ Because to admit such an error is to admit that there was another way. That it could have been prevented. That today’s hostages are a direct result of abandoning yesterday’s hostages.”

“Today, after 11 years and two months, their son returned. Not alive, to the great sorrow of his family and Am Yisrael. He returned in a coffin, via the Red Cross, in coordination with Hamas.”

“And that is the real lesson: in a country where successive governments ignored the Goldin family—where the media portrayed them as ‘troublesome,’ where the legal system rejected them again and again—the only side that ultimately listened to them was the enemy. Because they understood something we did not: that a nation willing to pay dearly for terrorists’ bodies but unwilling to demand the bodies of its own soldiers is a nation that can be extorted forever.”

Following Hadar’s return, Leah Goldin said that the family endured deep disappointments over the years—the greatest during the COVID-19 pandemic, when “Israel could have brought Hadar, Oron Shaul, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed home in exchange for vaccines—when the whole world faced a humanitarian crisis. But Israeli decision-makers didn’t do it.”

She added, “We must never give up on who we are. We will win through our values, and I hope Hadar continues to be a symbol. As he once said: ‘In life, you have two choices—to focus on yourself or to do great things.’ We didn’t do anything extraordinary; we just fought for our son and for every IDF soldier.”

“For years, I said, ‘I’m not fighting only for Hadar—I’m fighting for the next hostage.’ I thought of soldiers, not civilians. If October 7 wasn’t the wake-up call for every Israeli, it’s time to look at us and understand: we must fight for our children. Without them, we have no future and no existence.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)