Ida Nudel seeks to help
Photo: Haim Ziv
Collaborators get surprise help
Ex-Soviet refusenik petitions High Court in bid to stop executions of collaborators by Palestinian Authority
JERUSALEM - Former Soviet refusenik Ida Nudel petitioned the High Court of Justice on Wednesday to force Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to use any measures necessary to save the lives of jailed Palestinian collaborators facing execution.
Last month, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would allow death penalties passed by a PA court on 15 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel.
With the help of lawyer Niztan Darshan-Leitner, Nudel is asking the High Court to force the government to use all available means to save the 15 - including making pleas to the PA, United Nations, United States and Vatican and, failing that, conducting a rescue operation in the territories.
'Don't we care?'
“They helped us and worked for us, and now they will die. Don’t we care?” Nudel told Ynet.
She contended that Israel’s neglect of the collaborators is part of a larger phenomenon: “Israel doesn’t care about (missing air force navigator) Ron Arad, (jailed Israeli spy) Jonathan Pollard, and the soldiers who have been missing for years and their families don’t know whether they are alive or not.”
