Arik Lubarsky, brother of the IDF Staff Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky, 20, who was murdered by an Arab in late May, called for the death penalty for his brother’s killer. The terrorist, Islam Yusuf Abu Hamid, was charged with murder on Thursday for hurling a large marble slab down on Lubarsky’s head during an arrest mission outside Ramallah.
“Israel is allowing terrorists to continue living it up at our expense,” Arik Lubarksy said in a statement. “They receive lavish benefits in prison, grants from the Palestinian Authority, food supplies from the Red Cross that would put a luxury restaurant in Tel-Aviv to shame, and living conditions that families in need could only dream about. We need to end this celebration.
According to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), security prisoners in Israel are entitled to a number of basic rights, as well as receiving additional benefits. Under the basic conditions, inmates are entitled to meet with an attorney (within a professional framework), receive medical treatment, religious rights, basic living conditions (such as hot water, showers and sanitation), proper ventilation and electric infrastructure. They also receive regular visits from the Red Cross and education as well.
Apart from these basic conditions, security prisoners in Israel’s are entitled to receive newspapers, send and receive letters and read and keep their own books. Prisoners are even permitted to buy goods from the prison’s canteen, which is run by the inmates themselves. If that is not enough, relatives of prisoners can deposit money for them at the post office’s bank. As a part of the living conditions, prisoners receive family visitations, television watching hours and even electrical appliances, such as kettles and mosquito killers. On top of it all, many security prisoners receive monthly salaries, which can sometimes reach up to 12,000 NIS a month, from the Palestinian Authority for carrying out their murderous crimes. COGAT recently posted a report describing the funding by the Palestinian National Fund to Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails.
“Four of the terrorist’s brothers are also sitting in Israeli prisons,” Lubarsky pointed out, concluding: “We have only one demand from the Military Advocate General: the death penalty for this terrorist.”
The Lubarsky family was joined by other bereaved families from the Choosing Life Forum and activists from the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu.
Boaz Kokia, father of Sgt. Ron Kokia who was murdered in November 2017 while off-duty in the southern city of Arad, echoed Lubarsky’s call for the death penalty, saying, “The fate of all terrorists should be death, whether during the confrontation or afterwards.”
“I call on all the legal counsel to help promote this and on the security establishment to not worry about taking off the gloves in their battle against terrorism.”
Alon Schvartzer, Director of Policy for Im Tirtzu, who has been accompanying the Lubarsky family, advocated for stronger deterrence against terrorism.
“We need to implement a strong deterrence package that will cause any potential terrorist to think twice before perpetrating an act of terror,” Schvartzer said.
“Expelling the families of terrorists, removing the lavish benefits terrorists receive in prison, and legislating the death penalty would undoubtedly reduce the number of terror attacks and save innocent Israeli lives.”