Sara Netanyahu called parents of fallen Gaza soldier ‘ingrates’ – report

Sara Netanyahu told the mother of a soldier whose body is being held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza that she and her husband were “ingrates,” in a phone call two years ago, Channel 10 reported Sunday.

The prime minister’s wife was reportedly incensed that Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked was invited to speak at a ceremony marking the death of Hadar Goldin, who was killed in the 2014 Gaza war.

After the ceremony the Goldin family returned home and sat with other families bereaved in the conflict.

Shaked’s speech at the memorial was broadcast on the news and a short time later the phone rang, friends of the family told Channel 10. Goldin’s mother Leah answered the phone, to find Sara Netanyahu on the line.

“You are ingrates,” the prime minister’s wife reportedly told her, referring to Leah Goldin and her husband Simcha, explaining that she was unhappy that Shaked had spoken. “If you join with my husband’s political enemies, it may harm the efforts to bring the boys back.”

After the phone call, the friends said, Leah Goldin returned to her guests in shock. Her emotional turmoil was clear, those present told the news station.

Channel 10 said it did not run the story for two years because the Goldin family did not want it made public, and that they also refused to participate in Sunday’s report.

A spokesperson for Sara Netanyahu denied the story. “It never happened,” he said. “There was never such a conversation.”

He went on to say that Sara Netanyahu had come along with the prime minister to comfort the family after Goldin was killed, and attended several other events.

“Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, of blessed memory, are in the hearts of Sara Netanyahu and the prime minister, and to say anything else is incorrect and does not reflect the connection that was made with the family,” the spokesperson said, referring to Oron Shaul who was also killed in the Gaza war.

The report came on the same day that Shaul’s mother Zehava Shaul said the prime minister called her a liar, shortly before her husband died two years ago.

Noting her husband’s “uncertainty about our son’s fate and severe breakdown of trust with the Israeli government,” Shaul claimed that “two months before his death, we met Prime Minister Netanyahu and he shouted and hurled accusations at us. He called us liars because we argued that he had promised not to sign any reconciliation with Turkey before the boys return.”

Israel reached the agreement with Turkey in 2016, six years after ties soured over the death of nine Turkish activists in a clash with IDF commandos aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla.

“We all know who lied,” Shaul added. “Herzl left that meeting enraged and hurting, physically and emotionally.”

The Prime Minister’s Office was quick to deny the claim, issuing a statement saying, “Prime Minister Netanyahu has never shouted at bereaved families or hurled accusations at them, and the same applies to the Shaul family. The prime minister will continue to make every effort until the boys are returned back home.”

The Shaul family doubled down on its version of the events.

“We aren’t lying,” it said in a statement. “Netanyahu was livid and pounded on the table. (He said:) You don’t speak like that to a prime minister.”

Last year, Netanyahu’s office issued a stinging rebuke of two Likud Knesset members after they got into ugly arguments with the families of fallen soldiers at a Knesset committee meeting.

The Hamas leadership on Friday reportedly agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel on the condition that restrictions on the Gaza Strip’s border crossings be eased. The terror group was waiting for an Israeli response after the cabinet meets Sunday, Hadashot TV reported.

However, a statement following the cabinet meeting only said that the army was ready for any eventuality, and made no mention of the captives.

Netanyahu reportedly does not believe it is possible to reach a deal with Hamas for the return of the bodies of the soldiers, or of the civilians held in the coastal enclave.

During the security cabinet meeting, ministers reportedly criticized, “The blunt approach and almost unbearable pressure,” of the families of the captives, Hadashot reported. They reportedly said that the pressure from the families was harming Israel and would lead it to war.

Michael Bachner contributed to this report.