MKs oppose Crimson Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners, citing safety issues and lack of motion on hostages held by Hamas. Requires reciprocity persist.
MKs pushed to forestall visitation from the Worldwide Committee of the Crimson Cross to Israeli prisons throughout a Knesset Nationwide Safety Committee assembly on Tuesday, as representatives from the Israel Jail Service (IPS) stated that allowance of such visits might hurt the safety of the state.
For the reason that October 7 bloodbath in 2023 and the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas warfare,Crimson Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners have been stopped, together with the switch of data.
A Excessive Courtroom ruling in August 2024 referred to as on the state to elucidate its refusal to permit the Crimson Cross to see Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
MKs within the committee assembly stated that as a result of the Crimson Cross was not doing sufficient to deliver support or go to the hostages held in Hamas captivity, visits to Palestinian prisoners couldn’t be reciprocated.
Head of the committee MK Zvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit) stated that “no effort” was being made by the Crimson Cross on behalf of the hostages.
A Palestinian Hamas terrorist speaks with a Stephanie Eller earlier than the discharge of hostages held in Gaza for the reason that lethal October 7, 2023 assault, as a part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Yunis, within the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025. (credit score: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled)
“Reciprocity have to be preserved and circumstances stored equal. I’ll do every part to make sure the Crimson Cross visits our hostages, and till that occurs, I’ll stand on the jail gates and stop their visits,” Fogel instructed these on the assembly.
MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) referred to as the Crimson Cross “an antisemitic group.”
She stated the Crimson Cross “acted in a biased method towards our hostages” by equating them to the Palestinian prisoners moderately than “ terrorists who raped, murdered, and dedicated horrific crimes.”
MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash-Tal) spoke in favor of permitting the Crimson Cross visits to the Palestinian prisoners, saying that “Many issues are taking place contained in the prisons. The Excessive Courtroom ruling on prisoner circumstances isn’t any coincidence.”
Final week, the Excessive Courtroom dominated that the IPS failed to supply sufficient and nourishing meals to safety prisoners. Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) has publicly made statements on reducing circumstances for prisoners, although sustaining that the “primary minimal circumstances required by legislation” are being offered.
Touma-Sliman added that the shortage of Crimson Cross visits to the hostages comes as a result of the group has been unable to “persuade Hamas to permit visits”.
“Accountable them [Red Cross] for that’s far-fetched and absurd. Either side are telling them: You’ll not go to till the opposite facet permits it.”
A consultant from the IPS counter-terror division spoke on potential safety points with visits, saying, “We have now info that Crimson Cross visits might hurt jail safety and presumably state safety.”
The authorized advisor for the IPS instructed the committee that “For the reason that starting of the warfare, the IPS’s place has been that the Crimson Cross mustn’t enter prisons, based mostly on knowledgeable evaluation by the intelligence division that such visits might hurt jail safety and endanger jail workers.”
MK Ariel Kallner (Likud) additionally spoke on the potential safety threats of letting the Crimson Cross go to Israeli prisons.
“There have been instances the place the Crimson Cross harmed state safety and used its entry to convey info,” he stated.
A delusional request
“Permitting visits to these murderers in our prisons is a delusional request that’s unfair, unjustified, and unacceptable,” Kallner added.
Bereaved hostage relations spoke on the committee assembly as properly.
Hanna Cohen, aunt of slain hostage Inbar Haiman, whose physique remains to be held by Hamas, instructed the committee that “Our daughter was kidnapped by those that sit in jail and are actually requesting Crimson Cross visits.”
“In a traditional nation, they need to have been executed,” she added.
“I don’t know the place our daughter is. The legislation obligates the Crimson Cross to verify the place she is. My household is tortured,” she stated.
On the finish of the dialogue, Fogel instructed these on the committee, “We should act as a state with spine. The cupboard should determine: no Crimson Cross visits till info on our hostages is obtained.”
