Bereaved Father Protests as Nukhba Terrorist Hospitalized in Israel

By Yoni Weiss

Herzl Hajaj, the father of Shir Hajaj, Hy”d, who was killed in a 2017 terror attack in Yerushalayim at the age of 22, is urging the Health Ministry to cease the practice of providing medical treatment to terrorists in Israeli hospitals.

Hajaj’s plea comes to light after he learned that a security detainee was undergoing treatment at Hadassah Medical Center in Yerushalayim’s Mount Scopus.

In an interview with Yediot regarding his solitary demonstration outside the hospital, Hajaj expressed his dismay, stating, “It’s unacceptable for terrorists to be accommodated in VIP rooms in hospitals,” regardless of their condition.

“These terrorists have murdered, maimed, and slaughtered our children, and it’s absurd that we are obligated to treat them,” he asserted.

Hajaj called on the Health Ministry to halt the practice of admitting terrorists to public hospitals, emphasizing, “It’s nonsensical for these terrorists, who are not entitled to medical care and are barely human, to occupy beds in Israeli hospitals.”

Responding to the outcry, Hadassah Medical Center clarified that the decision to transfer security detainees to Israeli hospitals lies with the Health Ministry, and individual hospitals are not privy to the details or circumstances of the detained individuals.

Following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, then-Health Minister Moshe Arbel instructed public hospitals and health services to redirect injured terrorists to IDF or prison service medical facilities. However, by December, reports indicated a reversal of this directive, with terror suspects once again receiving treatment in Israeli medical facilities.