The first page of the petition
Sunday, October 5, 2025, 17:02 At the end of last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the State of Israel must reply within a month to a petition filed in July 2025 by Attorney Yitzhak Bam with the High Court of Justice on behalf of Honenu. The petition asks 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 committing acts of terror. The petition is particularly important considering reports of an additional deal to release hostages from the Gaza Strip which would involve releasing more terrorists from Israeli jails. The petitioners are demanding that the High Court of Justice return recidivist terrorists to prison to serve the remainder of their original sentences as 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 before completing their sentences as a result of 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. In the petition, Honenu observes that two months previously, 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 numerous instances of terrorist prisoners, after their early release from jail, being 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 after committing further offenses. However, the government did not establish a committee to examine the evidence of additional crimes in order to 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.”
Attorney Bam underscored the urgency of the petition: “Hundreds of terrorists have been prematurely released from prison. Many hundreds more are likely to be released in an additional deal that is currently being discussed. When terrorists are released wholesale, establishing a committee and activating the legal mechanism that facilitates their return to prison if they return to terror is the minimum that a country that values life can and must do to protect its citizens. We demand the immediate establishment of the committee. Every terrorist who returns to terror must be returned to prison.”