The official organization representing those permanently injured in terrorist attacks, and those who lost relatives in the attacks, has issued a statement protesting the government’s treatment of victims in light of the deal to free kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
“Why are we being treated as second class?” the statement wondered. “Why is the state not preparing to give medical and emotional support to all those harmed by terrorism whose wounds are being reopened with this deal?”
The group did not take a stance regarding the deal itself, noting that the plan to release more than 1,000 terrorists for Shalit is controversial among terrorism survivors as well as among the public at large.
The families of Yossi Shok and of Rabbi Yaakov, Chana and Shuvel Dickstein said Sunday that they learned of their loved ones’ murderers’ release from information published online, rather than directly from the Justice Ministry. Shok’s family had been told that only one of his killers would walk free, when in fact all three are to be released.
The family of Rabbi Eliyahu Shlomo Raanan told Arutz Sheva that they, too, had not been informed that the terrorist who murdered their husband and father was to be released. Tzipi Shlisel, Rabbi Raanan’s daughter, discovered the bitter truth only after calling the Justice Ministry; the killer’s name had not been included on a list of those to be freed.
After stabbing and murdering Rabbi Raanan in Hevron, the terrorist, Salam Al-Sarsur Rajab Mahmoud, went on to commit two more attacks.