Meirav Hajaj, the mother of Shir, who was murdered a year and a half ago in a terrorist attack in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem, is demanding, together with other bereaved families, to establish an external parliamentary committee of inquiry into the conditions of security prisoners in Israeli jails.
"The terrorists who are imprisoned determine the agenda, control what is happening in prison and receive [good] conditions ... These terrorists must understand that they did not come to summer camp, and this disgrace must be stopped. These terrorists must receive minimum conditions in order to create deterrence and prevent the murder of Jews. Every terrorist who goes to jail needs to know that he is going to suffer, not to summer camp," she said.
Hajaj supports the law approved by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which offsets the salaries of terrorists from the money that Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority. "I paid the price for the lack of deterrence. If 20 years ago they would have made the offsetting law and there were no summer camps in security prisons and they didn’t give over terrorists’ bodies and they expelled the families of terrorists, then the terrorist who murdered my child would not have found it worth doing so."
"The moment they know they are going to jail and have good conditions, then there is no deterrence," emphasizes the bereaved mother. "I hope that the government will be ready to fight terrorism in order to create deterrence. We will continue to act in all ways. Much still lies ahead. Our goal is to prevent the next bereaved family."