Israel refuses terrorist’s request to pay for rhinoplasty after she blew up own nose in attack

Israel Prison Service informs police officer injured in the blast that terrorist’s demand is not medically necessary.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has refused to pay for reconstructive plastic surgery for Asraa Jabas, a jailed terrorist whose nose was badly burnt after she blew up a gas canister in a car in 2015, Channel 12 reported Tuesday morning.

In a petition to the Supreme Court last month, Jabas demanded that the IPS fund her cosmetic surgery.

In a letter to the family of police officer Moshe Chen, who was also injured in the terror attack, the IPS’s Attorney General’s Office said it would deny Jabas’ request.

While the law requires that “a prisoner be kept in appropriate conditions that will not harm his health and dignity,” Jabas’ request, which was purely cosmetic in nature, was not germane to the IPS’ obligations to provide medical procedures of functional value, the letter said.

Jabas is serving an 11-year prison sentence after blowing up a gas cylinder near the city of Ma’ale Adumim east of Jerusalem in 2015. Chen, who was in the proximity of the explosion, suffered burns to his face and chest.

Jabas was also injured and underwent various medical treatments funded by the IPS, including two surgeries on her hands.

She has already attempted to secure an IPS-funded nose job twice in the past, the report said, but was rejected on both occasions.

Following Jabas’ petition, Chen issued one of his own to Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev, calling on the ministry to bar the use of Israeli taxpayer money in treating a terrorist who maimed him.

“Disabled IDF veterans, who are formally recognized by the state as such, are not eligible for plastic surgery if it isn’t strictly for medical reasons. How does it make sense that a terrorist who plots to harm and kill us could receive that service?” Chen told Israel’s 103FM radio.