Both Israel and Gaza are marking the first anniversary of Operation Protective Edge that took place between July 7 and Aug. 26, 2014. Family and friends of Lt. Hadar Goldin, among them distant relative Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, arrived at the military cemetery in Kfar Sava to visit the gravestone for Goldin, whose body is being held by Hamas. Standing by the cenotaph erected in his son’s memory, Goldin’s father said, “I remind you that the IDF left two bodies behind in Gaza and Rafah [Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul]. In the name of the sacred covenant between the parents and the state, I pledge that we will return his body [home].”
Another ceremony was held on Aug. 12 at the Western Wall, where 75 Torah scrolls, some of which survived the Holocaust, were dedicated in memory of the fallen — soldiers, Israeli civilians and foreign workers — during the operation. Jews from the Diaspora donated the scrolls. For its part, the Israeli media also did its own reflection concerning the lessons, misguided assessments, the Hamas tunnels and even the spikes in real-estate prices and tourism [after the Gaza war].
