Revealed: How many bodies of terrorists from the past year is Israel holding?

December 26, 2021   

The Defense Ministry addressed the rate of return of terrorist bodies for the first time. This was in response to an inquiry from the Israel Hayom newspaper - and published a figure according to which more than 80% of the bodies of the attackers in the past year are in Israel's hands. The figure comes on the sidelines of the series of attacks during the period, when the defense establishment returned three terrorist bodies to their Arab families in recent weeks. This is despite a decision by the political-security cabinet to keep terrorist bodies as a deterrent and as a bargaining chip in future release deals - if there are any. On November 19, the IDF, under the direction of the political echelon, returned the body of terrorist Amjad Abu Sultan from Bethlehem to his family. Abu Sultan was shot and killed after throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli cars on the tunnel road near Jerusalem. On Monday, December 20, Palestinian media reported that the IDF had returned the body of terrorist Dr. Hazem al-Julani, a 40-year-old doctor from Shuafat. The man carried out a stabbing attack in the Old City in September. This week, Palestinian media reported that the body of another terrorist had been returned to his family. This is Omar Abu Asab, who attacked two Border Guard soldiers about a month ago near the Ateret Kohanim yeshiva. Ministers said that no decision was made in the political-security cabinet to change the policy. The person who initiated and led the cabinet's decision on the matter at the time was Defense Minister Benny Gantz. In August 2020, Gantz presented a decision to the cabinet, according to which any body of a terrorist who committed a terrorist incident, regardless of its outcome and regardless of its organizational affiliation, would not be transferred to his family. Gantz said at the time: "Not returning the bodies of terrorists is part of our commitment to maintaining the security of Israeli citizens, and of course to returning the boys home. I suggest that our enemies understand and internalize the message well." Right-wing organizations attacked the return of the bodies. Matan Peleg, head of the 'If You Want' movement, and Maor Tzemach of 'Go to Jerusalem' said: ''In recent years, we have waged a struggle, together with the 'Choose Life' forum of the bereaved families, to stop the return of the bodies of the terrorists. In September 2020, the cabinet finally made a decision to stop this, and here we find that in the past two months, three bodies of terrorists have been released. ''These decisions will not restore calm or bring peace. They will bring more terror, and constitute a reward for the terrorist organizations. We call on the cabinet ministers who have expressed their opposition to the return of the bodies of terrorists over the years - to come to their senses and act in accordance with their statements.'' The Defense Minister's office responded: "The minister continues to lead the policy of returning bodies without any change. An examination of the data shows that in more than 80 percent of the cases brought to the defense minister's attention in the past year, he decided to keep the bodies. In exceptional cases, consistent with the cabinet decision, a decision is made to return the body, in accordance with the recommendations of security and legal authorities. Minister Gantz will continue to lead a policy of fighting terrorism without compromise, alongside security, legal and public responsibility." A security source told Israel Hayom that the cases in which Gantz ordered the return of the body were exceptional, such as minors or cases of personal and mental situations that cannot be specified, and subject to the criteria presented to the High Court of Justice. The source further explained that in the context of the recent lone wolf attacks, there are more exceptional cases brought to Gantz's attention. However, he emphasized that in all cases in which the bodies were returned, the terrorists had no organizational affiliation.