On Monday Zehava Shaul the mother of the captive Israeli soldier Oron Shaul commemorated three years since his kidnapping by Hamas in the 2014 Israeli offensive on Gaza with a video in which her voice is heard against the background of her son Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported.
“My dear Oron I cannot believe it’s been three years. I think about you endlessly and wish for the day when I will see you again” Zehava said in the video. “I did not dream that I would have to beg the Israeli government not to abandon you in Gaza.”
“Three years in which I have been fighting messianic ministers who see your abandonment as a matter of Kiddush Hashem (the sanctification of God’s name through martyrdom—ed) or other ministers who see me as a nuisance and wait for the meeting to end” the mother was quoted as further stating.
Zehava further expressed her frustration saying “there are those who express support but do not really work for your return.
“Oron my dear Oron I promise I will not let them turn you into Ron Arad and I will not give them the pleasure of turning me into Batya Arad who died in sorrow without seeing her son return home from captivity” she added.
Zehava ended by saying she takes pride in her son and his courage in fighting to protect Israel by choosing to “serve in the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion and fight in Operation Protective Edge while millions of Israeli settlers sat for 50 days in shelters and stairwells. I will not rest until I return you to the country you love so much.”
The fate of Shaul along with other Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hamas has been shrouded in mystery. Hamas refuses to release the captives before a prisoner swap deal with Israel is struck.
