Hadar Goldin's brother warns West of hostage-taking threat: 'This is not only an Israeli story'

Studying public policy at the Kennedy School in Harvard University to make that dream a reality, Goldin, who last month saw his brother finally laid to rest after more than a decade in Hamas captivity, said he feels some closure and can now sleep better at night – but he would not rest until all the remaining hostages in Gaza have been returned.

He also warned that Hadar’s story of 11 years a hostage, 11 years when a family could not offer their beloved son and brother a dignified resting place, should serve as a harsh moral and cautionary lesson – not just to Israelis but to the world – that hostage-taking by terror groups sows division in society and places governments in a political dilemma.

“Hamas and terrorist organizations are using this effective method of terrorism against democratic societies,” Goldin said, pointing out that hostages, alive and dead, can be used as bargaining chips that strengthen such groups.

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

“We see those three hostages and we’re very worried that my brother’s case will be repeated,” Goldin continued, referring to Dror Or [who was returned to Israel after this interview was conducted], Ran Gvili, and Sudthisak Rinthalak, the last remaining hostages in Gaza who were taken during Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023.

As Hadar’s story faded from headlines, the family refused to let the world forget about him. Their persistence ultimately became a reference point for the families of the 250 people kidnapped nine years later during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

Hadar – and fellow soldier Oron Shaul, also taken during the 2014 war – became symbols for Hamas as well, Goldin noted. Before October 7, he said, some Israeli leaders believed that downplaying the issue of missing hostages would deter future kidnappings.

“This was a misconception built on the foundations of the Schalit trauma,” he said, recalling the release of soldier Gilad Schalit in 2011 after five years in Hamas captivity in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners and terrorists.

“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.”

In fact, the opposite occurred. Goldin pointed out how Hamas Nukhba terrorists shouted Hadar’s name during the October 7 attack, and he described how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had brandished Hadar’s weapon as a symbolic trophy in a ceremony. His brother’s story, he said, became lore in Gaza – an inspiration for thousands of attackers.

Despite his relentless activism today, Goldin said this path was never planned. Growing up, he said that he and his twin brother were inseparable, even though they were very different – Hadar was outgoing and artistic, while Goldin was more reserved. At the funeral, he said that “there is no Tzur without Hadar.”

As young men, they bonded over their shared love of movies, with Goldin dreaming of working in film. Everything changed, however, on the day Hadar was killed and dragged into a tunnel in Rafah.

Incredibly, Goldin was there that day as part of the army force responding to the attack.

“I call it my Private Ryan move,” he recalled. “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 to locate the roots of tunnels.”

When he returned to collect the equipment, he learned that Hadar had been among those attacked, and for 72 hours he believed his brother was alive – until an officer entered the tunnel and found evidence of his death.

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

His life trajectory immediately shifted. “Before all that… I was sure that I would become a movie director,” he said. “Then this happened, and I sort of reset my skills to achieve the impossible of bringing Hadar home. I became a lawyer, got involved in advocacy, and established an organization for Hadar with my parents.”

What fueled him was a simple, ancient moral duty. “Bringing a fallen loved one back for burial is something that is valued by all religions – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity,” he said. His father would remind him: “If you desert the deceased, you will abandon the injured and then eventually the living.”

Asked about his future, Goldin said he still feels an obligation to strengthen Israeli 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 explained. “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.

“I’ve been engineered over the last 11 years to the struggle for Hadar,” he 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.”■