Prof. Simha (right) & Dr. Leah Goldin (second from left) with Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon and the deputy permanent representative of the US to the UN, Ambassador Michele Sison. Photo: Israel Mission to UN.

The parents of a fallen IDF soldier whose body has been held by Hamas for three and a half years have called on the Israeli government to not return the body of a Palestinian terrorist killed in a shootout in Jenin this week, the Hebrew news site Mako reported on Friday.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Simha and Leah Goldin — the parents of late IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin — wrote, “Hamas does not act in accordance with international law and is holding slain IDF soldiers in a pirated and inhumane manner.”

“The non-release of terrorists’ bodies will send a clear message to Hamas leadership that Israeli policy has changed and the humanitarian gestures from us have ended until the return of Hadar and Oron [a reference to Staff. Sgt. Oron Shaul, another IDF soldier who fell in battle in Gaza in the summer of 2014 and whose body is in Hamas’ possession],” they continued.

In an interview with The Algemeiner last year, Leah Goldin said, “Bringing a soldier back to Israel to burial is, first and foremost, a humanitarian issue. This is an important value in all religions. It’s about human dignity.”