The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the decision of the security apparatus to return to prison eight Arab terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands who were freed in the Shalit deal four years ago. The eight were caught again last year in a wave of arrests made following the kidnapping of three boys in Gush Etzion.
The terrorists argued that their detention is motivated by political considerations, and that when they were freed no one warned them that they could breach their conditions for release, as the prosecution was arguing in favor of for their renewed detention.
Justice Elyakim Rubinstein argued in a dissenting view that the state should accept part of their argument and return them to prison for only a few years and not make them serve their full original sentence.
But Judges Neal Hendel and Anat Baron decided in the majority ruling that the text of the pardon shows that any breach of conditions of release would lead to the original sentence being served in full. According to them, this is an appropriate interpretation of the terms of the amnesty, which is also reasonable in light of the circumstances under which the murderers were released.
The release of the terrorists in the Shalit deal was done through a pardon granted by then President Shimon Peres. The amnesty included a condition stating that it would be possible to re-arrest the released prisoners should they return to their old ways. In addition, all released prisoners signed a detailed commitment regarding the possibility of being returned to prison if they were involved in terrorist activity.