Members of the Sovereignty Youth Movement joined activists at the Black Arrow vigil demanding the return of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul: The Prime Minister and the other ministers must demonstrate sovereignty and responsibility instead of weakness vis-à-vis Hamas. We must bring the sons home.
This week, members of Sovereignty Youth joined the weekly demonstration for the return of Hadar Goldin, obm and Oron Shaul, obm at the Black Arrow memorial near Gaza with the call to Israel’s leadership to express Israel’s sovereignty by bringing back its soldiers for a Jewish burial.
This past Friday (April 23) Eliyahu Friedman, one of the leaders of Sovereignty Youth, spoke about the living connection that he feels to Hadar. “We are good friends”, said Friedman, noting that this friendship exists despite the fact that he was a fourth grade student during Operation Protective Edge.
However, he feels that there is a continuous connection with Hadar as a “Havruta” (study mate) , as he defines it, because of the book, Mesillat Yesharim.
“Twice a week, we learn Mesillat Yesharim together, or to be more accurate, Hadar teaches me Mesillat Yesharim”, said Friedman, referring to the special book published by Hadar’s parents, How to Build a Life.
Studying Mesillat Yesharim with Hadar Goldin, including the personal, general and public comments that Hadar wrote in the margins of the book Mesillat Yesharim when he was studying it.
Friedman emphasized that the pursuit of Israeli sovereignty does not end with the aspiration for sovereignty over Judea and Samaria only. Sovereignty, he explained, entails many parameters. “When a state does not bring back its soldiers it is an expression of the lack of sovereignty; a state that is not capable of stopping an attack on Jews expresses a lack of sovereignty.
The first basic thing that we must do as a sovereign state is to bring back the soldiers who go out to battle. When we the youth will enlist to the military, we want to know that in any case, we will return home.
The first step on the path to sovereignty is the return of the sons”.
Friedman directed his call to the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and the state’s upper echelon in general, to bring back the sons, to demonstrate sovereignty, to demonstrate responsibility; instead of weakness vis-à-vis Hamas, to be strong”.
He also expressed appreciation for the persistence of the activists, who are present every week at the compound of the Black Arrow memorial, for 3 years already, calling on the government to bring back the sons from Hamas’ captivity.
Friedman’s words were received with applause.
The co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, who have been participating in these vigils for quite a while, add: “A sovereign state knows how to use leverage against terrorists in order to bring back its sons.
A sovereign state does not give humanitarian benefits to the enemy’s citizens while its sons have not been returned to its borders.
Heading a sovereign state there should be leadership that does not remove the claim or the demand for the return of its fighters and citizens from the agenda.
Unfortunately, it seems that although the leadership is busy with endless matters, it does not deal with the painful matter of bringing back the sons. Leadership that can bring the Iranian nuclear archive, a leadership that know how to send its air force to act deep within enemy territory, leadership that knows how to rescue an entire country from a pandemic, must bring back her sons, who fought for her welfare.
The two women add that the participation of representatives of Sovereignty Youth also shows that the youth understand the depth of the sovereignty problem expressed by Israel leaving her sons in the hands of the enemy, but it is also an expression of their call to the leadership as future IDF enlistees, to stand by their basic commitment to its soldiers and citizens. “Very soon, these will be the soldiers and officers who will lead the IDF. They must know that the unique, unwritten but ethical covenant between the fighters and the state will be kept, and that the leadership of the state is responsible for this”.
