Hundreds of protesters gathered outside of the Qatari embassy in Washington Thursday to protest the Hamas terror group’s refusal to return the bodies of two slain IDF soldiers killed in 2014, and demand that the Qatari government pressure Hamas to release their bodies to Israel.
Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul were killed during Operation Protective Edge in August 2014. Since then, the Hamas terror group has held their bodies ransom, demanding Israel free jailed terrorists as a precondition to negotiations for the return of the bodies.
The Qatari government, which backs radical Sunni organizations across the Middle East, is widely believed to be a patron of the Hamas organization and has close ties with its leadership.
Members of the Jewish community in the greater Washington DC area called upon the Qatari government to halt transfers to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip until the terror organization returns the bodies of the IDF soldiers.
“For more than three years, nearly 1200 days, the parents of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul have lived in agony waiting for their dead sons’ remains to be returned for proper burials,” the Jewish Community Relations Council of Great Washington said in a statement Thursday.
"Recently, news outlets reported that Qatar is spending $50,000 a month to improve its standing in the U.S. Jewish community despite its financing of terrorist groups including providing Hamas with $1.4 billion. Qatar is using the promise of returning Hadar and Oron's remains as a bargaining chip to secure meetings with Jewish leaders. Human remains are not bargaining chips."
Other Jewish activist groups, including StandWithUS, The Israel Project, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and the American Jewish Committee backed Thursday’s protest.