BICOM

The Israeli cabinet yesterday accepted the recommendation of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to ask the High Court to revise its decision that the state is prohibited from keeping terrorist bodies for negotiations.

Last week the High Court of Justice ruled that the state must return the bodies of Palestinian assailants rather than keep them and attempt to swap them for the bodies of Israeli soldiers killed in action. “Even the most despicable murderers have the right to be buried, and their families have the right to bury them,” read the verdict. The court ruled that Israel could not hold onto bodies for the purpose of negotiations when there is no specific law that explicitly permits. The court did say that the Government could introduce new legislation to permit it to do so.

The High Court gave the Government six months to pass a new law but ruled that should it fail to do so, the bodies of the terrorists must be returned to their families.

The ruling was criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called it a “highly problematic” decision, adding that “we shouldn’t give Hamas free gifts”.

Relatives of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier whose body is being held by Hamas in Gaza, criticised the Cabinet decision as “miserable” and Netanyahu’s policy as “weak”.

The High Court ruling was in response to a petition filed by Palestinian families against a cabinet decision earlier this year not to return the bodies of Hamas terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis.