Last week, we reported that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was attacked by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over a petition to the High Court of Justice against the Israel Prison Service and other security agencies demanding they transfer to the Red Cross information about dozens of Hamas terrorists who were arrested in Gaza to be interrogated and incarcerated in Israel in connection for their role in the October 7 massacre.
The response of the security agencies and the state attorney’s office was to allow the Red Cross to receive this information from the prison service, however, Minister Ben Gvir, whose office is in charge of the IPS, forbade the transfer of the requested information, which delays the government’s response to the petition.
Or, as Ben Gvir put it, humanitarian gestures will only be granted in exchange for humanitarian gestures. “They want information about the Hamas terrorists – let them give information about our hostages.”
Last week, among other things, the AG said that the decision goes beyond the authority of the Minister of National Security and is subject to the political echelon.
On Sunday, Ben Gvir told the AG at the cabinet meeting: “Very nice to meet you, I’m the political echelon.”
Folks around the table laughed.
The AG then said, “It’s true, but you’re not the only one.”
At that point, Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs warned the AG: “We just talked about transferring funds to the PA. By the very act of releasing the information (about the Hamas massacre prisoners), now the PA will know who is dead, who is imprisoned by us in Israel, and so on. Do you really want us to fuel the transfer of funds from the PA to the terrorists with our own hands? After all, that’s exactly how they will know.”
For the record, the headline of my January 19 report on this and similar issues, was: “Ben Gvir Under Fire for Excessive Use of Logic, Mounting Popularity.”
Cheers.
