Parents of soldier whose body is held by Hamas travel to UN

Exhibition of Hadar Goldin’s art to go on display at United Nations headquarters during annual General Assembly

By JTA 14 September 2016, 7:35 pm

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Simcha and Leah Goldin have embarked on a campaign to retrieve the body of their soldier son Hadar from Gaza, where he was killed on August 1, 2014. (Ben Sales)

The parents of a slain Israeli soldier whose remains are being held in Gaza by the Hamas terror group have taken their campaign to the United Nations in New York.

Leah and Simcha Goldin of Kfar Saba — whose son Hadar was killed in the 2014 war — left Israel on Tuesday and were scheduled to attend the opening of an exhibit of their son’s artwork at the UN headquarters on Wednesday.

Titled “The Final Peace,” the exhibit is being held in a main exhibition area of UN building in Manhattan. It will remain up throughout the UN’s General Assembly, which began this week, attended by world leaders.

The Goldin family decided to hold the exhibit after a curator who visited them following the war saw the drawings and was impressed by Hadar’s artwork.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara visit an exhibition of paintings by the late IDF soldier Hadar Goldin at the artists' village, Ein Hod, in North Israel, August 10, 2015. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara visit an exhibition of paintings by the late IDF soldier Hadar Goldin at the artists’ village, Ein Hod, in North Israel, August 10, 2015. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

The family previously held an exhibit of his artwork on the first anniversary of the 2014 Gaza war at the Ein Hod artists’ village in northern Israel.

Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed in Gaza on August 1, 2014. (AP Photo/ Ynet News)

Goldin was killed when his unit was attacked during a failed cease-fire initiated by the United Nations. The Israeli army was able to recover enough forensic material to pronounce Goldin dead.

The family held a funeral, and since then has engaged in a campaign to return the rest of his remains, held by the Hamas terror group which controls the Gaza Strip. The Goldins have traveled to the United States three times to lobby for the return of their son’s body. They also met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he visited Israel in June.

Hamas also holds the remains of Israeli soldier Oron Shaul, also killed in the 2014 Gaza war.

While in New York the Goldins will meet with Israeli officials, Jewish-American officials and others.

Israel’s chief negotiator, Lior Lotan, told a security conference on Tuesday that Hamas rejected an Israeli offer to free 18 Palestinians prisoners and turn over the bodies of 19 other Palestinian combatants from the Gaza war in exchange for the bodies of Goldin and Shaul.

Hamas on Wednesday denied that there had been any meaningful discussions on a swap deal.