Brother of fallen soldier Hadar Goldin warns Hamas hostage-taking terrorism endangers entire West

Tzur Goldin, the twin brother of the deceased hostage Hadar Goldin, stressed that terrorist organizations like Hamas increasingly use hostage-taking as a weapon against Western democracies.

“Hamas and terrorist organizations are using this effective method of terrorism against democratic societies,” Goldin explained, adding that terrorists seek to strengthen their positions by using hostages as bargaining chips.

He emphasized that the challenges Israel faces are therefore also relevant for the entire free world.

“This is not something that the international society can and should accept,” he argued. “This is not only an Israeli story; this will also expand to all Western society, and it has to be looked at,” Goldin said.

His brother, Hadar Goldin, who served in the IDF, was killed in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, and Hamas refused to return his body to his family. Last month, Hamas finally returned Hadar’s remains after 11 years under the current ceasefire deal.

"The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Goldin family and of all the families of the fallen hostages," the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated at the time. Thousands of mourners attended Hadar Goldin’s funeral in the central Israeli town of Kfar Saba.

Hamas and other terror groups kidnapped 253 hostages from Israel during the October 7 massacre in 2023.

“We see those three hostages and we’re very worried that my brother’s case will be repeated,” Tzur Goldin said, referring to the last three remaining deceased hostages: Dror Or, Ran Gvili, and Sudthisak Rinthalak. In late November, Dror Or’s remains were returned to Israel. The murdered Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak’s remains were returned earlier this week. Gvili remains the last deceased hostage in Gaza.

While holding terrorist organizations like Hamas accountable for the hostage-taking, Goldin also criticizes some Israeli officials who seek to downplay the issue of hostages.

“This was a misconception built on the foundations of the Schalit trauma,” he assessed, referring to IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas in 2011 and returned in 2016 in exchange for over 1,000 terrorists and political prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

“There was a sense that if the value of the hostages is reduced, if we disconnect from them, then Hamas would be less motivated to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians in the future,” he said. “This is why we were so alone throughout the years,” he explained.

The Goldin brothers had a close relationship, and Tzur Goldin took part in a military force that responded to the attack on his brother’s unit in 2014.

“I call it my Private Ryan move,” he said. “I received the call to send in a rescue team, without knowing that my brother was involved. But when I reached the tunnel, I was told to go back and return with the technological devices that help locate the routes of tunnels,” he recalled.

Goldin admitted that he never thought he and his family would have to wait 11 years before Hadar’s remains were returned home.

“We thought it would take a few days or maybe some months before he was returned to us.”

Addressing the future, Goldin stressed that he still seeks to strengthen Israel’s often divisive society.

“That is why I pivoted from being a lawyer in the hi-tech business sector to be part of a new generation that repairs our society,” he said.

“I’m not interested in getting into politics, but I think there’s something bigger that can and should be done to make Israel an unbelievable place,” he continued.

“I’ve been engineered over the last 11 years for the struggle for Hadar,” Goldin said, “and now I need to sort of shift back and decide on my next step… But for sure it will be to join an effort in making Israel the best place on Earth.”