Terrorists to Retain Half their National Insurance Benefits
The Knesset's Labor, Welfare and Health Committee voted Monday in favor of a bill that would cut 50 percent off National Insurance benefits to citizens involved in serious terrorist crimes. Government lawyers had opposed cutting off all benefits to terrorists……
The bill would reduce by 50 percent the stipends to Israeli citizens who were involved in terror activity and sentenced to at least ten years in jail for it.
MK Rotem said Monday, "This is a compromise.The original bill…included a complete cutoff…………of stipends to anyone who was convicted [of terrorism]…..however…when one seeks to harm terrorists, 'constitutional problems' crop up. The bill we have before us is better than nothing."
Attorney Shai Somech of the Justice Ministry told MKs who……"the use of stipends as a means of punishment creates constitutional and legal difficulties." In addition, he said…….Even so, the bill's wording is acceptable to us despite the difficulties."
Uri Eldar of the Socialist Education Fund expressed opposition to the bill. “We need to act as a civilized country."
At this moment, as I write these words, the immense feeling of pride rising from within the deepest recesses of my heart is about to burst it. The tremendous satisfaction in knowing that Israel is behaving in the most civilized manner possible and is setting an example for all other democracies is sending a wave of contentment up my spine. The beacon of justice shining forth from the halls of Justice in Israel will spread throughout the universe and dispel the darkness of oppression and restrictions so prevalent elsewhere. Maybe the bracha of She’he’che’yanu would be appropriate in this instance.
Terrorists who attacked, bombed, shot, maimed, stabbed and killed innocent Jews and were sentenced to prison will now also be punished through their pockets by having their Israel-paid stipends and entitlements cut in half.
In half - because to cut payments off completely is a punishment too severe for these terrorists to bear. Based on the argument against any cuts at all, it seems that by stripping these killers of the benefits on which they can continue to live, plot and carry out additional terrorism, the state commits an act of double jeopardy; a person cannot be punished twice for the same crime.
Noble, indeed.
After all, what sustenance will the murderer of an innocent bus-passenger or restaurant patron have after his jail sentence has been completed? How will he survive on the outside once his sentence for terrorism has been finished or, in many cases, commuted? What a sad thought, indeed.
That is why the pursuers of justice demanded that a heinous terrorist, a killer, should be treated justly and his livelihood should be retained. If not at the hundred-percent-level it was prior to the crime he committed, at least half of the total amount should be paid to him by the survivors of the innocent victim he killed.
Survivors? Yes! The survivors, the family and loved ones left behind by the ugly brutality of the terrorist are to subsidize him with their taxes.
They are continuing to pay the killer so that he can live another day and try to commit another atrocity against another innocent Jew whose family members will also be forced to continue this cycle of stupidity.
In commenting on the above phenomenal act of justice, I must indicate that it goes hand-in-hand with other steps being carried out by the State of Israel.
It will be remiss not to mention the unwillingness of the Knesset to punish the Arab Knesset members who openly work with its enemies, giving them comfort and advice.
It simply boggles the mind that the Israeli tax-payer pays hefty salaries and expenses to these traitors and accords them every possible benefit and protection. Never mind the venomous, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist rhetoric they spew on a daily basis against Jews in in general and Israel in particular. Never mind the state secrets they discuss with Hizbullah, Hamas, Iran and Assad. You cannot take that into account.
Rabbi Meir Kahane and his Kach party were expelled from the Knesset for attempting to expose the treachery of these same Arab Knesset members. Rabbi Kahane’s demand that these traitors be expelled from the Knesset, created a tremendous upheaval in the halls of Israeli Justice. His ‘unbearable’ suggestion that Arabs be transferred out of Israel brought the house down on his head. Today, to demand equal treatment in the case of Tibi, Zouabi and the others, would be simply inhuman and anti-democratic, dangerous enemies though they are. Instead, the Israeli public is told to disregard the poison and simply continue to swallow.Justice in its full glory.
Mind boggling justice system? You bet!
And since we are mentioning the virtues of Israeli justice, let’s not forget that mid-night invasion of settlers’ homes and the physic throwing out of entire families, little children and tiny babies, into the pitch-black darkness and freezing weather is definitely justified.
It inspired sheer awe to see how Knesset members voted down the notion that such brutality should be disallowed. In witnessing those actions of fairness and consideration to the welfare of the individual, meted out on an-almost daily basis, one sees democracy in its purest form.
Though these actions are accompanied by brutality, verbal and physical abuse, the actions themselves are justified as witnessed by that recent Knesset vote. Thundering through a settlement or an ‘illegal’ outpost at two in the morning is unequivocally an act of consideration.
I just wonder why this consideration and justice system is geared for Jews only? There are tens-of-thousands of illegal Arab structures throughout Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem, the Negev and elsewhere. Yet, I have yet to hear about or witness the same mid-night, brutal, inconsiderate and destructive scenario. But then again, that, exactly, is part of the justice system.
To clarify the issue, one need only quote Welfare Committee Chairman MK Chaim Katz who summed up the debate. "The blood of Israel's citizens cannot be shed freely. Let the terrorists see this and know that their old age and welfare may be damaged, and they will be deterred from terrorist activity," he said.
Terrorists beware!