Murdered hostage’s daughter says IDF failed to recover body of father, officer personally took responsibility

Bar Godard confirms that the military failed to recover the body of her father Manny, who was murdered and his body taken to Gaza on October 7, 2023.

Godard says she initially heard rumors on the Telegram app that her father’s body had been recovered in a mission last week. The IDF officer who accompanied the family since the massacre told her he was on his way to their house.

“But in the moment he opened the door, I understood. Dad wasn’t here. He told me about the daring operation and brave soldiers who tried to rescue my father,” she says, adding that troops seized a fridge that contained evidence belonging to her father.

The officer said to her, “I am so sorry,” she explains.

She commends the officer for taking responsibility for the failed operation and adds, “I couldn’t but help think of another person who, since October 7, has not taken responsibility for anything,” apparently referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“If only he would dare to come to Nir Oz or Be’eri and look at us in the eye,” she says.

Speaking at the rally, Einav Zangauker also reveals that her son, hostage Matan Zangauker, is being held alongside another living hostage who is a foreign national, “who is expected to be released in the deal that is being put together now.”

“And my Matan? He’ll stay behind in hell. So I warn you now of the coming selektziya,” she says, referring to the Holocaust-era distinction between Jews deemed fit for hard labor and those sent straight to the slaughter.

Noam Lehmann contributed to this report.