High Court rejects 2 further petitions against Hamas hostage deal

The High Court of Justice rejects two further petitions against the deal with Hamas to exchange some 50 Israeli hostages for approximately 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel on security-related offenses, insisting that there is no substantive reason for it to intervene.

The unanimous decision of the three-member panel, written by Justice Alex Stein, states that the government has broad discretion over security and diplomacy issues that are outside of the court’s purview.

The court also rejects claims by the petitioners that the government is discriminating against some captives by releasing others, saying the government’s statements indicate it is trying to free all hostages and that it is Hamas that is responsible for the separation of hostages into different categories.