State Given 48 Hours to Answer Objections to Return of Terrorists’ Bodies

YERUSHALAYIM
Hamas tunnel
The brother of late Israeli soldier Oron Shaul is seen at a protest tent outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s residence in Yerushalayim in 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s High Court notified the state on Sunday that it has 48 hours in which to respond to the Goldin family’s interim injunction request against releasing terrorists’ bodies, Ynet reported.

Late Friday afternoon, the state transferred the bodies of two terrorists who had been killed by IDF soldiers in the act of attacking Israelis to their families for burial. The two were Mahmoud Ahmad Gamal, the terrorist who in September of last year murdered three Israelis at a checkpoint in the town of Har Adar, north of Yerushalayim, and a terrorist who last week stabbed and lightly injured a security guard in the Gush Etzion community of Carmei Tzur.

If the intent of the state had been to make the transfer unnoticed, minutes before Shabbos when practically no one is listening to the news, it was mistaken: The parents of Hadar Goldin, H”yd, an IDF soldier who was lost in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge and whose remains are being held by Hamas, commented on the transfer, calling it “a traitorous act against the IDF. We thought the prime minister and his Cabinet members only lied in the media, but now we know they also have no problem lying before the High Court.”

The Goldin family is suing the state, demanding that it act upon Cabinet decisions against returning the bodies of terrorists to their families as long as their son Hadar, as well as another missing IDF soldier, Oron Shaul, are still held by Hamas. “During a hearing on our lawsuit on Thursday, the state promised to enact those decisions, but barely a day later it released the bodies of more terrorists for burial. This government has no respect for its soldiers, and no problem lying to the High Court. It is sad that the government has fallen to the point where it is willing to lie to families of soldiers who were lost in battle, and does not even act on its own decisions.”

In a statement, the IDF said that “based on our evaluation of the situation we decided to return the bodies of the terrorists. One of the bodies is that of a terrorist who attempted a stabbing attack in Carmei Tzur. The other is the body of a terrorist who conducted a shooting attack in Har Adar, in which two Israeli security guards and a Border Police officer were killed.” The three victims in that attack were Ohr Arish, Hy”d, a 25-year-old resident of Har Adar; Solomon Gevriya, Hy”d, a 20-year-old Border Guard officer and resident of Be’er Yaakov; and Yussuf Othman, a resident of the Arab town of Abu Ghosh.

The three Israelis were murdered by Gamal at a checkpoint outside the town of Har Adar, north of Yerushalayim, where thousands of PA workers enter Israel daily. The terrorist was part of a group that had been ushered into Har Adar via the checkpoint, from where they were to proceed to their jobs.

 

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