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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Experts skeptical whether Hamas terrorists can be denied 'rights'

I told you so.

Legal experts are skeptical that Israel's uber-liberal 'Supreme Court' will allow the government to take 'rights' away from Hamas terrorists in the hopes of pressuring Hamas to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

But what's really interesting about this story is what the terrorists' 'rights' are:
The committee established a subcommittee made up of representatives of the Attorney-General's Office, the Israel Prisons Service, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), which will consider curtailing Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoner privileges.

According to a statement put out by the Justice Ministry, the subcommittee will consider reducing the amount of money allotted the prisoners for their personal needs [Why are they getting ANY money? CiJ], reducing their television and radio rights, curtailing visitation rights, limiting their ability to study for high school diplomas or university degrees and limiting physical contact with visitors.
Is this a prison or a country club?
[Government minister Meir] Sheetrit described conditions for security prisoners as "VIP summer camps" and promised that if the law prohibited worsening those conditions, he would work to change the law.

Sheetrit said that in the material he had reviewed prior to the meeting, he found that even those jailed for multiple life sentences were allowed televisions in their rooms, connection to cable broadcasts, newspapers, cell phones, meetings with family members, the Red Cross and attorneys, as well as the opportunity to earn university degrees. [Something tells me that Gilad Shalit gets none of the above. Maybe Israel is trying to make sure none of the 'Palestinian' prisoners terrorists want to leave. CiJ]

According to legal experts, Sheetrit may well have to make good on his promise on legislation.

Hamas prisoners are not considered prisoners of war, since recognizing them as such would imply recognition of the terror organization as a legitimate military body.

Rather, said Hebrew University lecturer Robbie Sabel, they have rights as "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which applies to all people detained during war, even if Israel had no diplomatic relations with the states or bodies they represented.

Those rights include visits by the Red Cross and minimum standards of imprisonment including educational and religious activity, basic sanitation and food.

If, however, the prisoners were simply considered criminals, Israeli law would require even better living conditions.

The question, argued Sabel, is not what privileges could be taken away, but whether privileges could be taken away at all.


"The basic question is one of Israeli law - are we going to punish people not because of what they did, but because of what people in Gaza are doing?" said Sabel.

He added that the High Court of Justice could see the committee's decisions as a form of collective punishment, which is prohibited.
You had to see this coming. And you all thought Gitmo gave too many privileges to terrorists.

6 Comments:

At 2:54 PM, Blogger R-MEW Editors said...

GOI should recognize Hamas as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian Arabs and immediately declare Israel in a state of war with the Palestinians. This is the de facto reality anyway. Formalizing it would enable Israel to treat the Hamas vermin like prisoners of war eliminating this type of nonsense (as well as precluding any release prior to the end of the war) and more importantly, finally hold the "Palestinian People" accountable for the actions of their elected leaders.

Hamas, Arabists, and lefties in the West have been vociferously advocating for "recognition" since Hamas came to power; Israel should give it to them -- with all that implies.

 
At 3:07 PM, Blogger Hutzpan said...

Yigal Amir, for having an unauthorized phone interview with a journalist a couple of months ago, has been deprived of permission to make phone calls to anybody, they confiscated all his books except one, took away radio and tv, not to mention he isn't allowed to have meetings with family members.

 
At 3:32 PM, Blogger Captain.H said...

"Legal experts are skeptical that Israel's uber-liberal 'Supreme Court' will allow the government to take 'rights' away from Hamas terrorists in the hopes of pressuring Hamas to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit."

Well, there's proof positive that Israel is a member of Western Civilization. The Israeli Bench is infested with clueless leftist "jurists" just like the US, Canada, Britain and the other EUnuch states. ("EUnuchs", a good synonym for "European Dhimmis", don't you think? I think I might patent that phrase. :-)

 
At 7:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

HAMAS "RIGHTS" (as they see them)

Presumed innocent, regardless of guilt.

 
At 7:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@FinanceDoc

That's just far too sane for consideration, as you must surely know by now.

 
At 7:42 PM, Blogger NormanF said...

Its outrageous that vermin who have murdered Jews and who wish to see Israel destroyed get Club Med accommodations and treatment in Israel's prisons. They live better than 99% of the Israeli taxpayers do and enjoy comfort on a scale Gilad Shalit cannot imagine. This is punishing them for brutal crimes? They should be executed because they are too dangerous to be left alive for ANY reason. Its a gross perversion of the rule of law and justice. That needs to be changed for good.

 

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