Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet on Thursday that the prisoner releases carried out as part of three wartime hostage deals will likely “incentivize future kidnappings.”
He raised the possibility of adopting the Shamgar Committee’s recommendations into law and referenced the past “Lapid Law” proposal, which sought to set legal limits on releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages.
Palestinians celebrate the release of terrorists in Ramallah
(צילום: רויטרס)
Israel has released large numbers of prisoners in three separate deals since the war began. During the most recent cabinet meeting, Netanyahu reviewed the findings of the Shamgar Committee, a public panel led by former Supreme Court President Meir Shamgar that drafted principles for negotiating the release of hostages and captured soldiers. Its 2012 recommendations remain classified.
Netanyahu said the recommendations were submitted to the cabinet prior to Oct. 7, 2023, but no operational decisions were made before the war. He also argued during the discussion that “the war was extended by two years because of the hostage issue.”
The debate arose during a broader discussion on measures to reduce incentives for kidnappings, including the proposed death penalty law for terrorists. The conversation was cut short due to time constraints related to a scheduled discussion on Gaza.
Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs supported the idea of enshrining principles in law, saying legislation “can help and can certainly lock in parameters” for future deals. He cited the Elkin-Struk law, passed after the 2014 kidnapping of the three teenagers, which prohibits releasing certain prisoners convicted of murder under aggravated circumstances.
Fuchs said that because of that law, eight prisoners who were initially listed for release in wartime hostage deals were ultimately not freed.
One of them was Ra’ad Khalil, who murdered Aaron Ysayev, 32, and Reuven Avraham, 51, in a 2015 stabbing attack at the Panorama building in Tel Aviv. A court ruled that Khalil committed the murders under aggravated circumstances. He was included on the initial list of 737 prisoners approved for release ahead of the second hostage deal in February, but was removed after an advocacy group flagged his case and security officials confirmed that the law prohibited his release.