Israel Matzav

Human rights for human rights

On Sunday, it was humanitarian aid for humanitarian aid and today it's human rights for human rights. Ida Nudel, who was held prisoner in a Soviet gulag as a prisoner of conscience in the 1970's, today petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to stop all visitation rights of 'Palestinian security prisoners' (terrorists) until a sign of life is received from kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. The picture at top left is of Ms. Nudel's 1987(!) arrival in Israel.

"I filed the petition as someone who was once a prisoner for the State of Israel and as a responsible Israeli citizen, who feels responsible for what is going on in the country and for the people as a whole," Nudel told Ynet.

Nudel said that Israel should receive equal treatment to all other countries, and should demand this equality from the UN and international community.

"Every prisoner, no matter what he did, has rights, and our soldiers have these rights as well; and if we accept that we are not receiving that – then the rest of the world will too," she said.

In her petition, Nudel argued that "Israel's policy of allowing visitation to terrorists arrested by Israel is severely damaging efforts to release the kidnapped IDF soldiers.

"Since his kidnapping, Hamas has refused to allow soldier Gilad Shalit's family to make contact with him, while Hizbullah has also refused to give any sign of life of the two soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, since they fell captive in July 2006."
Nudel, who spent eight years in a Siberian prison, argued that Hizbullah is neither willing to transfer letters, pictures, or videotapes of the kidnapped soldiers to their families, nor give any information on the soldiers' physical conditions.

"This is unprecedented cruelty and cynicism, the captors are acting against the relevant rules of international law," Nudel said.

As you can see, the 'prisoner of conscience' appellation was well-deserved. Fortunately for all of us, Ms. Nudel did not check her conscience at the Ben Gurion Airport customs.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:42 PM