Sara Netanyahu reportedly told mother of Hadar Goldin to stop criticizing PM

The wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told the mother of slain soldier Hadar Goldin to stop criticizing her husband over efforts to secure the release of the body of her son, killed in the 2014 war in Gaza,

The Tuesday report by the Hadashot news broadcaster comes on the heels of another report of a heated phone call between the two a year earlier, but was swiftly denied by the Prime Minister’s Office.

According to the report, Sara Netanyahu told Leah Goldin to stop her criticism of the prime minister in a June 2017 phone call.

“Stop acting that way against the prime minister, it only harms your efforts to return Hadar,” Netanyahu reportedly told Goldin.

Sources close to the Goldins told the TV channel that the conversation grew heated, and that there were others listening in on the call.

On Sunday, Israel’s Channel 10 reported that Sara Netanyahu called Goldin and her husband “ingrates,” in a phone call two years ago. Netanyahu also threatened that the release of Goldin’s remains could.be delayed as an act of political retribution.

The remains of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul have been held by the Hamas terror group since they were killed in the 2014 Gaza war. Two living civilians, Abera Mangistu and Hisham al-Sayed, are also believed to be held in the Strip.

The release of the captives and the remains is the subject of intensive talks taking place between Israel and Hamas in recent days as part of a wider truce agreement.

The Tuesday report did not say who initiated the 2017 call, but it reportedly followed the Goldin family’s claim to the media that the prime minister was limiting Lior Lotan, his envoy to oversee efforts to negotiate the return of Israelis held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, such that he had no authority to reach any deal.

The Goldin and Shaul families have been critical of government efforts to secure the release of the bodies and captives, staging public rallies and protests.

However, the Goldin family has distanced itself from the reports.

“The family has not cooperated with this kind of publicity, and opposes it being made public,” they said. “The family will continue to wage a moral war, free from politics, in order to bring Hadar back from the clutches of Hamas in Gaza.”

On Sunday, Zehava Shaul, the mother of Oron Shaul, told a conference that the prime minister had yelled at her and her husband and called them liars.

The Prime Minister’s Office has denied the reports and Shauls’ claim.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson said Sara Netanyahu had told Goldin of her efforts raised awareness of the plight of those held in Gaza with Melania Trump when she visited Israel with her husband US President Donald Trump last year.

“This was the topic of the conversation and not as they described it,” the spokesperson said.

Michael Bachner contributed to this report.