Herzl Hajaj, the father of Shir Hajaj, who was murdered in a terrorist attack, tells Israel National News about the insult in the complaint by a terrorist in the Gilboa Prison, and describes Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as the only ministers in the government who carry out actions that he believes will increase deterrence regarding terrorism.
"I see families where the terrorist who murdered their child is in prison and they feel as if their child has been murdered again. Instead of sitting in prison and getting the minimum, the terrorists play, have fun and eat excellent meals," Hajaj says angrily.
According to him, "Prison is supposed to be a deterrent to the next terrorist. When he is given these luxuries, it does not create deterrence. I am speaking on behalf of the 'Choosing Life' forum of bereaved families. You see the terrorists come to the first hearing weak and pale - and after a month they become fat and healthy."
"After all, what do we want in the end? There should be deterrence. For terrorists who carried out attacks to sit in complete isolation and under normal conditions, without entertainment and without television. They have to sit there, suffer, in conditions that will not be nice. We are simply blown away by this. If I knew that the terrorist who murdered my daughter is enjoying himself, I would explode. It humiliates the families and adds insult to injury," he adds.
Hajaj stresses that the "Choosing Life" forum demands that the situation change. "Our forum is not looking for sentiment or hugs from anyone - we want a change - so that it will be safer here in the country, and this is achieved by deterrence. Our problem is mainly with the individual terrorists, who of course we know are organized by organized incitement. This terrorist knows he will get money, respect in his family and in his village. On the other hand, what is the Israeli government doing? Transferring funds to the Palestinian Authority, giving concessions to the Authority, their main concern is that it doesn't collapse. We need to let the heads of terrorist organizations protect our security interests? That's why we look like this, and they murder our children left and right."
"[Former Defense Minister Benny] Gantz was once able to revoke work permits for terrorists. But this is not permanent. The immediate family should be deported, and the extended family should simply be denied work permits. You see their atmosphere and also understand where this terrorist grew up, with all the encouragement and the distribution of candy after the attacks," says the bereaved father.
To the question of what he expected to be done to increase deterrence, he replied: "Immediately after the attack, when there is someone who is 100 percent certain to be the killer, we should take all the deterrence actions on that same day. What is happening now is that many ministries are entrusted with this matter and then everything gets stuck and dragged on as bereaved families realized, unfortunately, that the State of Israel prefers to absorb 20-30 murders a year - the main thing is not to anger the Palestinian Authority, the European Union, and the Americans. Does anyone even remember the names of those murdered a year ago? Everything is simply done to keep the peace - and our children and the dear ones pay the price."
In the current government, Hajaj identifies only two elements that are working seriously against terrorism. "The only two ministers who are doing something are Minister Smotrich and Minister Ben-Gvir. Smotrich released compensation money for families bereaved by terrorist attacks, something that for 20 years the ministers of Finance did not release and did not want to touch at all. He came and without blinking signed and transferred the money. It's simply amazing. It may not prevent terrorist attacks at the moment, but it deters the Authority and gives money and breathing room for the bereaved families."
"The second minister, Minister Ben-Gvir, is changing the conditions in the prison a little to the detriment of the terrorists and this is a good direction. The rest of the government and the coalition are very nice, they come to talk to us from time to time, but unfortunately they are not doing anything in the right direction. This government is of course better than the previous one with the Muslim Brotherhood, but they are not doing enough for deterrence. We need to concentrate the activity of the government ministries so that the deterrence comes from all of them together, and not just one-off things here and there," Hajaj concludes.