The Knesset Constitution Committee on Monday discussed the public defense bill, during which bereaved families expressed outrage over the fact that the State of Israel will fund the October 7th terrorists' legal defense. Itzik Bonzel, the father of Ssg. Amit who fell in battle in Gaza, addressed the representatives of the prosecution at the meeting: "If someone here supports legal representation for terrorists stand up. If not let's end the discussion. "It's a shame for the people of Israel that this discussion is being held over our children's blood. There's no way that the murdered victims will fund the Nukhba terrorists' legal representation." Galia Hoshen, whose daughter Hadar was murdered at the Nova Festival, added: "I am just exploding and I feel that I have to come to the Knesset and scream for my daughter whose voice won't be heard. Some people forgot October 7th and that 1,400 people were murdered here. The judicial system feels strengthened by the disaster, how is that possible? There's selective enforcement when it comes to calls to harm the Prime Minister. "You dance on the blood of our soldiers who fell because of the Nukhba terrorists. This isn't stupidity, this is deliberate evil against our people. My daughter was murdered and I have to fund legal representation for those who murdered her?" she wondered. Related articles: IDF arrived 7 hours after terrorists infiltrated Kibbutz Nirim The scope of failures at the Nova massacre is revealed The moment Matan Angrest was kidnapped from his tank on 10/7 The abductee who tried to flee as terrorists took him to Gaza Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich penned a strongly-worded letter last week on the matter. "Loss of values. The citizens of Israel will not fund with their money legal defense for wretched enemies. Never, especially not during this challenging fiscal period and when we need to scrape away for every last budgetary source for the many needs of Israeli society," he wrote. In his letter to the budget commissioner, the minister wrote: "I assume that even without my instruction, you wouldn't have even thought of answering this delusional request, but to remove any doubt, I inform you that I prohibit the funding of the legal defense stated in the state budget. The public defense is correct in its refusal to represent the Nukhba terrorists and I have no intention of allowing it from other sources." The court spokesperson commented: "The law demands the representation by a defense attorney to try a detainee. Since the trials are being held via video conference, several decisions were made regarding the appointment of a private attorney and the funding of their salary from the state treasury. The courts' management reached out to the Justice Ministry to examine the way to apply the decisions and to find the budgetary source, and the issue is still under review."
