Security cabinet asks for new High Court hearing on holding terrorists’ bodies

The security cabinet on Monday said it would ask the High Court of Justice to review its decision on the legality of Israel holding on to the bodies of terrorists rather than returning them to their families.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the ministers to debate the matter after  the High Court ruled last week that Israel cannot hold on to the bodies for use as bargaining chips against terror groups without passing a new law to authorize and regulate the practice.

The cabinet acted on the advice of Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit.

The ministers made it clear that despite the court ruling, the bodies will not be returned to their families and determined that the principles laid out by the judges were unacceptable. They also decided that the process to formulate legislation for keeping bodies will be put on hold until a response is received from the court about holding a new hearing.

The court had ruled that: “The State of Israel, as a nation of laws, cannot hold on to corpses for the purposes of negotiations at a time when there is no specific and explicit law that allows it do so.”

The parents of Hadar Goldin, an IDF soldier whose remains are being held by the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip, expressed their annoyance that the legislation was being stalled.

“The cabinet’s decision is an unhappy one that shows the enemy softness and weakness,” Leah and Simcha Goldin said in a statement.

Israeli security forces regularly take custody of terrorists’ corpses, with the intent of using them in negotiations to retrieve the bodies of Israeli soldiers. In this case Israel wants the return of  Goldin and another soldier, Oron Shaul, whose remains are being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Last week the High Court of Justice gave the government six months to enact legislation.

“If a law is not made before this time, the bodies of the terrorists will be returned to their families,” the court wrote in its decision at the time.

Responding to the decision, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said he had instructed lawmakers to prepare a bill.

The court was ruling on a petition by a number of families of terrorists whose bodies are currently being held by Israel.

The ruling was made by a panel of three judges. Justices Yoram Danziger and George Kara wrote the majority decision, while Justice Neal Hendel wrote a dissenting opinion.

They did not outright forbid Israel from holding the bodies of Palestinian terrorists, only from doing so without a law dictating how it is managed.

Following the ruling, several politicians criticized the court and called for work to begin immediately on such legislation. Netanyahu had blasted the decision as “very problematic.”