Missing soldier’s family asks court to turn off Hamas prisoners’ TVs

The family of a killed Israeli soldier whose remains are being held in Gaza on Sunday petitioned the High Court of Justice to strip privileges from Hamas prisoners jailed in Israel.

Oron Shaul’s parents were protesting recent reported improvements to jail conditions for some 3,500 prisoners from the terror group.

These benefits include permission to watch the Euro 2016 soccer championship tournament, an increase from three to seven television channels, hard-boiled eggs at meals, and an additional NIS 200 ($51) for the canteen, according to a report by the Walla news site.

The report did not note how often the extra NIS 200 would be disbursed.

“What is the logic behind this miserable, bizarre decision?” wrote Herzl and Zehava Shaul in their petition. “Hamas continues to laugh at Israel throughout, from the hiding place of the two soldiers. The state must send Hamas a clear, unambiguous message — an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

The High Court last week shot down a petition by the Shauls to cancel Israel’s rapprochement deal with Turkey, which they had sought to have conditioned on the release of their son’s body, as well as that of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, who was also killed in the Gaza war in 2014 and whose remains were never returned.

Goldin’s family was not named in the court documents, nor that of the families of two other Israelis believed to be held alive in Gaza.

Last week, Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer proposed a bill that would relieve Palestinian security prisoners of all benefits that are not required under international law.

The Shauls’ petition to the High Court was made after a letter sent last week to the prison services went unheeded. In a letter addressed to Prisons Service Commissioner Ofra Klinger and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, they said they were “shocked to discover” a decision to give thousands of Hamas prisoners a number of perks over the past month.

“It is unacceptable that Hamas prisoners will enjoy easy conditions and a host of benefits while the Hamas organization refuses to return our sons Oron and Hadar Goldin who were captured in Operation Protective Edge,” wrote the parents.

“Hamas has so far avoided any humanitarian action required by international law regarding the passing on of information about prisoners,” they added.

The letter from Shaul’s parents last week was also sent to the ministerial committee tasked with the return of the bodies of the Israeli soldiers, as well as the return of the two living Israelis being held captive in the Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri are on the panel.

The committee was set up following a cabinet meeting over whether to authorize a recent deal for normalization of relations with Turkey. Ankara was thought to be able to pressure Hamas into releasing the Israeli prisoners, but the final deal excluded any provisions on the captives or the missing soldiers.

The families of Shaul, Goldin and Avraham Abera Mengistu — one of the captives who wandered into the Strip in 2014 and suffers from mental illness, according to his family — staged a protest at the main commercial crossing into the coastal enclave last week, as an initial shipment of Turkish aid was set to be transferred via the checkpoint.

The families have rallied against a detente deal between Israel and Turkey inked two weeks ago, which allowed for the transfer of aid to Gaza via the port of Ashdod but did not stipulate the return of Mengistu and the remains of the two soldiers.

The father of the second Israeli hostage in Gaza, Sha’ban al-Sayed, whose son Hisham wandered into Gaza in April 2015 and has not been heard from since, said he disapproves of putting pressure on the Israeli government.

Al-Sayed told Army Radio on Tuesday that pressuring the Israeli government “will only hurt the interests of our boys.” He instead has argued the pressure must instead be placed on Hamas, which al-Sayed accused of mistreating his son. He said his son suffers from schizophrenia.

According to his father, Hisham had crossed into Gaza twice before and was returned to Israel, but the third time Hamas decided to keep him hostage while withholding any information about his condition.