The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved Sunday a bill that would take away terrorists' right to receive burial expenses from the National Insurance Institute, thus guaranteeing coalition support for the bill and greatly increasing the bill's chances of passing in the Knesset plenum.
In 2008, Arab citizens of Israel carried out several terror attacks in Jerusalem. Despite killing and maiming Israeli citizens in a hostile nationalistic attack, the terrorists' families received payments to cover burial expenses from the National Insurance Institute – because the law enabled them to.
The explanatory addendum to the bill notes that it would add another benefit to the list of those that are already denied to terrorists' spouses and children. These currently include old age pensions, disability payments and payments to widows and orphans.
Dozens of Arabs with Israeli citizenship are involved in aiding terror attacks, the law's sponsors Danny Danon and Miri Regev (Likud) explained further. "Denial of burial fees would be a meaningful deterrent act in Israel's struggle against terror,” they said.