Israel cancels family visits to imprisoned Hamas members - Tzvi Lev

by Tzvi Lev

State cancels family visits to imprisoned terrorists in order to pressure Hamas terror group to return bodies of fallen IDF soldiers.

Simcha Goldin

Ofer Amram

Israel's government informed the Supreme Court that it had decided to stop family visits of Hamas terrorists from Judea and Samaria that are imprisoned in Israeli jails in order to force the terror group to return the bodies of two IDF soldiers it has been holding since August 2014.

The state prosecutor's office told a Supreme Court that the government had ended such visits entirely during deliberations regarding rights afforded to Hamas prisoners as part of an appeal the Goldin family filed with the Supreme Court regarding human rights afforded to Hamas prisoners.

The Goldin family wants the State to ratchet up pressure on Hamas by limiting the benefits its prisoners and their families receive, including the right enter Israel with entry permits issued out of humanitarian concerns, as well as family visits for terrorists held in Israeli prisons.

Hadar's father Simcha told the court that "the time has come to make it clear to Hamas and its people that the days of medical treatment in Israel are over and that from now until the return of the soldiers, these treatments will be given in Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan."

In November, a legal team assembled by the Goldin family accused the government of not implementing the cabinet decision and filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to intervene.
In August 2014, IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul were killed during fighting with the Hamas terror organization. Their bodies were both taken into captivity by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, and have been held there since. Goldin’s family has demanded the government aggressively target Hamas’ leadership to pressure them into returning the remains of both Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin for burial in Israel.

While the security cabinet had ruled that the government should deny entry to both senior Hamas members and their families, as well as to restrict the visitation rights of Hamas terrorists jailed in Israel, the Goldins contended that the government had failed to fully implement the decision, limiting only a handful of Hamas leaders’ ability to enter Israel.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu led the political-security cabinet to adopt a resolution aimed at putting pressure on Hamas, but this decision was not implemented," said Simcha Goldin. "If it were possible, I would demand that the prime minister be brought here to give answers to the family and to all the citizens of Israel why this has not happened.


Tzvi Lev

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/241998

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