The fight to retrieve the remains of Israeli soldiers Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin entered a new phase on Sunday, when the Shaul family petitioned the High Court of Justice to pressure the government to act on the matter. Shaul and Goldin were killed during Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip in 2014. Their remains are being held by Hamas. According to the petition, the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are required "to follow the law, as stipulated by the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet decision to establish a ministerial task force, comprising members of the cabinet, to handle the matter of the missing and captive soldiers on a continuous basis." In the petition, submitted by attorneys Yishai Sarid and Neriah Haroeh, the families wrote that "once the ministerial committee decided to establish a task force, the prime minister's duty was to convene it without delay, and [all the ministers] are obligated to fulfill their duties as members of the task force, post haste and continuously." The families "cannot come to terms with a situation in which this critical responsibility is neglected and the ministerial committee's decision is rendered meaningless," the petition said. The petition states that in late June last year, when the cabinet decided to establish the ministerial task force to handle the matter of missing IDF soldiers, it was also decided that Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri would head the task force, "but the task force was never convened and never bothered to carry out its vital work, despite over four months passing since the decision was made." Sarid said: "We are asking for the most basic thing, that the government follows through with its own decision. It is unacceptable that political and personal considerations disrupt the handling of returning Oron Shaul and the other missing and captive soldiers." Aviram Shaul, Oron's brother, said: "Every Jewish mother who sends her son to Golani [infantry brigade] should know that as long as Netanyahu is responsible for her son's fate he won't have any problem sending him into battle on a broken APC, but if that hard battle goes wrong and her son falls into enemy hands, her son will then be a nuisance. We hope the High Court persuades Netanyahu that Golani soldiers are not forfeit and they must be brought back home after fighting a war that went on for more than 50 days."
Families of Hamas-held soldiers ask court to order government action
"We are asking for the most basic thing, that the government follows through with its own decision. It is unacceptable that political and personal considerations disrupt the handling of returning ... missing and captive soldiers," says attorney.
