In the lap of luxury: What it's like to be a 'Palestinian' in an Israeli prison
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
What's it like to be a 'Palestinian' in an Israeli prison? For those who have forgotten, here is a description from 2006:
The Palestinian terrorists apprehended yesterday by the IDF in Jericho were living in luxury, in what was supposed to be a “jail.” (Hat tip: Joel.)
BRITAIN
made a robust defence yesterday of its decision to pull out of Jericho
prison before an Israeli raid, citing fears that its monitors would be
kidnapped, and painting a portrait of a jail controlled by inmates
living in luxury.
Palestinian guards confirmed yesterday that
Ahmed Saadat, a leading militant captured by Israeli troops in the raid,
kept birds and flowers in his quarters. Western officials said that
Saadat in effect used other prisoners as “domestic staff”.
An
official told The Times that Fuad Shobaki, the alleged moneyman behind a
2002 weapons shipment intercepted by Israel, smoked up to five Cuban
cigars a day and was known as “The Brigadier” to inmates and staff. He
was also seized.
“Saadat and Shobaki were very much in charge,”
one prison source said. “These guys were running the prison. They did
what they wanted, when they wanted.”
...
But British
sources spoke of a “credible and specific” warning this year that the
PFLP had planned to free its prisoners, “possibly taking the monitors
hostage”. They also cited warnings last year that militant groups
planned to kidnap monitors.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has
released a letter to Mr Abbas from John Jenkins, the British
Consul-General, and his American counterpart giving final warning that
the monitoring would end unless the Palestinian Authority ensured “full
compliance” with the monitoring agreements and improved the security of
the US and British personnel.
It followed reports by monitors
that the six prisoners had access to computers, mobile phones and were
not “locked down” at night. The monitors said that they were forbidden
to search cells and that mobile phone jammers were switched off.
...
But
Sami Musallam, the Palestinian governor of Jericho and the Jordan
Valley, dismissed concerns over the monitors’ safety as “bullshit”.
He
said that in four years the six inmates had not left jail except to go
to the mosque, dentist and hospital. He added that Shobaki was not
allowed visits from his wife. “We have always depended on the British
and Americans to be the guarantors of agreements between us and the
Israelis,” he said. “We put a lot of trust in them, and now they have
lost our confidence.”
It's seven and a half years later, and things haven't changed too much. Here is an interview with a 'Palestinian' shortly after his release from an Israeli prison.
Idiots: Israel Prisons Authority ensures Eden Atias' murderer has dinner with his friends
Here's Hussein Rawarda, the murderer of IDF soldier Eden Atias HY"D (May God Avenge his blood), having dinner with his cellmates the night after the murder.
Forget for a minute that this piece of drek ought to be subsisting on the bare minimum of bread and water until he is put to death slowly and painfully.
The State of Israel has kept Yigal Amir, the alleged assassin of Yitzchak Rabin, in isolation since 1995. Why does this human garbage deserve better?
Finally: No more free college for terrorists (who haven't started yet)
Yes, I realize that the title of this post probably sounds absurd to anyone who has not been reading this blog for a while. But yes, 'Palestinian' terrorists serving time in Israeli jails were entitled to free university education (at the expense of Israeli taxpayers). Until now. Finally, the Supreme Court has decided that the terrorists are different from other prisoners.
The High Court ruled Tuesday that terrorist security prisoners were
not eligible for free university education in Israeli schools. The
permission and assistance extended to prisoners convicted of criminal
activities that supplies them with free courses and degree programs at
Israel's Open University does not apply to prisoners convicted of terror
activities, the court ruled.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit
by three terrorist prisoners who claimed they were being discriminated
against because prison authorities refused to enroll them in an Open
University program and pay their tuition. The Open University offers
extensive distance-learning programs, enabling students to do coursework
via the Internet, with scheduled meetings with mentors.
The court said that discrimination was
not an issue in the case. “The court has ruled in the past and continues
to rule that the differences in treatment of criminal and terrorist
prisoners is not due to discrimination. We believe the same applies to
education,” said the three judges who heard the case.
But the court still expects the prisons service to be kind and considerate to the terrorists.
With that, the court said that the prison system should be “considerate”
in deciding what to do with terrorists who are already in the midst of
academic programs. “We think it would be worthy to consider those in the
midst or close to the end of an academic program separately from those
who have not yet begun a course of study,” the court said. “If the
prisons decide not to continue funding the education of those prisoners,
they will be free to file petitions with district courts on the
matter.”
Terrorists have a right to a free college education at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer. How absurd!
Remember this description of an Israeli prison for 'Palestinian' terrorists?
BRITAIN made a robust defence yesterday of its decision to pull out of Jericho prison before an Israeli raid, citing fears that its monitors would be kidnapped, and painting a portrait of a jail controlled by inmates living in luxury.
Palestinian guards confirmed yesterday that Ahmed Saadat, a leading militant captured by Israeli troops in the raid, kept birds and flowers in his quarters. Western officials said that Saadat in effect used other prisoners as “domestic staff”.
An official told The Times that Fuad Shobaki, the alleged moneyman behind a 2002 weapons shipment intercepted by Israel, smoked up to five Cuban cigars a day and was known as “The Brigadier” to inmates and staff. He was also seized.
“Saadat and Shobaki were very much in charge,” one prison source said. “These guys were running the prison. They did what they wanted, when they wanted.”
Almost 18,000 prisoners fill the Israel Prison Service’s 32 correctional facilities, with more than two-thirds of convictions related to drug or property crimes. Jews and Israeli-Arabs are housed in the same facilities, and sometimes share a cell as roommates. Israel has its fair share of white-collar crime and auto theft, but national rates for homicide, rape and other violent crimes are lower than in most developed countries.
The hour-long Lockup episode features visits to three Israeli prisons: Rimonim, Israel’s largest maximum-security prison; Neve Tirza, the only facility for women, and Hermon, known as “the largest therapeutic community in Israel.” Lockup field producers interview inmates and staff at each prison with an eye toward explaining why Israel’s recidivism — repeat-offender — rates are among the lowest in the world.
Not only does Israel maintain fewer prisoners per capita than most Western countries, but released inmates achieve high levels of reintegration into society. Recidivism rates in the US and Europe hover at 75%, with rates in Israel as much as 20% lower. Israeli prisons themselves are less crowded than in most countries, in part due to the release of thousands of Palestinian “security” prisoners in recent years.
A thread running through Lockup’s Israeli prison interviews is the ability of education, skills-development and job placement to prevent repeat offenses.
Read the whole thing. It really does sound like a paradise, except that they ignored the remaining 'Palestinian' terrorists, who have a much higher recidivism rate.
Flytilla 'activist' sneaks camera into Israeli prison
Here's a video from Al Jazeera - after the bit about most Jewish Americans being more sympathetic to Muslim Americans than are people of the major Christian denominations (certain notable Jewish American Islamophobes notwithstanding) comes an interview (from 2:40 to 12:05) with a persistent Israel-hater and Flytilla activist from Wales via Ireland called D. Murphy (who has performed such attention-grabbing stunts as supergluing herself to the BBC's Welsh HQ and stealing and smashing up a trolleyload of Israeli produce from aTesco supermarket in Swansea). With a hidden camera (hidden where?) she took footage of her prison cell in Israel and it was smuggled out somehow by an American woman (again, how?)
Garrulous Murphy, who's pretended in the past to be a Christian pilgrim ("I'm not Christian") to get admittance to "Palestine" vows to return by hook or by crook again - hope the authorities find that camera next time around!
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
