The Goldin family has been waging a media battle to have the body of their son, Lt. Hadar Goldin, returned to Israel for burial. Goldin was killed in 2014 in Operation Protective Edge, and Hamas refuses to hand over his remains. The Goldin family recently targeted Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman in its campaign.

On Aug. 25, Col. (Res.) Lior Lotan resigned his position in the prime minister's office as coordinator on POWs and MIAs. This only intensified the feeling of betrayal among the Goldin family and the family of Oron Shaul, another soldier whose remains are being held by Hamas. They had regarded Lotan on the job as proof that there was a channel in place for bringing their sons home. His resignation was the straw that broke the camel's back. At an angry press conference at their home in Kfar Saba, the Goldin family charged that Liberman was a “weak coward.”

The background to this eruption was a statement by Liberman. Israel, he said, “must not repeat the mistakes of the [Gilad] Shalit deal. As part of the deal, we released 1,027 terrorists, among them murderers and their handlers including Mahmoud Qawasmeh, who was expelled to Gaza and funded the kidnapping of the three teenage boys, and Yahya Sinwar, who leads Hamas in Gaza. … Some 202 people released in the Shalit deal have since been arrested by the security forces for their involvement in terrorism.”

The Goldin and Shaul families claim that the statement was all spin by the defense minister. They have never demanded the release of terrorists in exchange for their loved ones' bodies, but rather that pressure be exerted on Hamas.