The first page of the petition
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 20:02 Attorney Yitzhak Bam filed a petition with the High Court of Justice on behalf of Honenu asking the court to obligate the government to establish a committee authorized to return recidivist terrorist prisoners to prison. The matter at hand pertains to terrorists who were released in recent hostage deals and subsequently returned to terror. As of now, although formation of the committee is required by law, the government has refused to establish it. Honenu’s position is that returning the recidivist terrorists to prison to serve the remainder of their original sentences is a necessary step toward eradicating terror and strengthening security.
In the petition, Honenu cites paragraph 8b(c) of the Government Law, 2001, which states that simultaneous to the release of terrorist prisoners, including those released in hostage-release deals, the government will establish a committee whose job is to examine the necessity of rescinding the release of prisoners, among them those who returned to terror. Honenu cited the obligation according to law of the government to convene the committee upon every release of terrorists. The petitioners demand a conditional order requiring the respondents to provide a reason for their failure to decide whether or not to establish and staff the aforementioned committee. Honenu observes that two months ago, they asked the Prime Minister and other government ministers to progress with the appointment of committee members. Neither the Prime Minister nor any of other ministers, among them the Justice Minister, the Defense Minister, and the National Security Minister, responded to the request.
Paragraph 8b(c) states that “a committee will be established whose job is to examine the necessity of revoking the release of prisoners, among them those who returned to terror.” Honenu explains that according to the language of the law and its purpose, neither the Prime Minister nor the other relevant ministers have discretion concerning the establishment of the committee. “Their authority becomes an obligation when they decide to release many hundreds of security prisoners [before completion of their sentences] in the framework of a hostage deal. Alternatively, at the very least, following the release of many security prisoners, the Prime Minister and the ministers must consider the establishment of the committee,” Honenu wrote in the petition.
Honenu argues that the committee is an essential component of the war on terror, especially after the October 7 massacre, because it facilitates the return of recidivist terrorists to prison when the ruling is based on confidential information, or evidence that is inadmissible in a regular criminal trial. Thus the committee constitutes an important preventative measure that is likely to be an effective alternative to administrative detention. The petition cites that since their release, a number of terrorist prisoners have been arrested for additional national security crimes. Concerning some of them, information has been amassed about additional crimes they have committed.
The petition also specifies instances that were compiled and shared on the HaKol HaYehudi website: Eight terrorist prisoners, Ibrahim Attiya, Haytham Jaber, Waal Al-Gagov, Mahadi Abbas, Samah Al-Shobaki, Saeed Diab, Fahd Tswalhi, and Riad Marshoud, were released before completion of their sentences, and subsequently re-arrested. However, the government did not establish a committee to examine the evidence of additional crimes and consider canceling the release of the security prisoners. “The lack of a committee negates the provision of law and turns the conditional release into an unconditional release.”
The petition continues: “The situation created by the release of many hundreds of terrorists to Israel, including to Yehuda and Shomron, intensifies the need and the urgency for establishing the committee. … The large number of security prisoners being released and the high rate of recidivism renders the matter of establishing the committee urgent. The absence of a committee rules out the possibility of implementing the provisions of the Government Law which require the return to prison of security prisoners who were released in the framework of a hostage deal and who then carried out additional national security crimes.
“The government is not authorized to impede implementing the law by refraining from establishing the committee that is supposed to rule on the particular cases to which the law applies. For this reason, the honorable court is requested to issue a conditional order that instructs the respondents to provide a reason for why they have not appointed a committee compliant with paragraph 8b(c), and to explain why they will not discuss nominations for the committee.”
Elhanan Gruner, a journalist from the HaKol HaYehudi website, stated, “Our research shows the exorbitant price society pays for releasing terrorists who then return to attacking Jews. We hope that as a result of this information, the authorities will act to immediately return terrorists who re-offend to prison.”