Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to discuss, among other things, a request from Britain to allow visits to Hamas terrorists imprisoned in Israel after participating in the massacre on October 7.
Netanyahu supports allowing such visits by two foreign observers together with an Israeli judge. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of the prison service, opposes this position strongly, supported by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Obeid Wadirani, and a professional opinion from the Prison Service that visits will incite the terrorists.
Ben-Gvir presented to Netanyahu a series of arguments for his opposition. He states, ‘It is a demand designed to weaken us in negotiations. The prisoners’ condition only pressures Hamas’. He also noted that ‘Israeli abductees did not receive any similar visit by an international body in Hamas captivity’.
Ben-Gvir believes, ‘The British apparently did not internalize that the mandate has ended and the White Paper is not in force. The Prison Service has a professional and independent inspection system, and their demand for an inspection visit is an infringement on sovereignty. No self-respecting country would agree to this’.
He added that Israel should demand reciprocity – if an international representative will visit the abducted in Gaza, Israel should agree to an identical visit to the terrorists imprisoned in Israel due to their involvement in the massacre.
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