Israeli court orders that private attorneys be provided to Hamas terrorists from the elite unit that invaded the country on October 7th – with Israeli taxpayers footing the bill.
By World Israel News Staff
Israeli taxpayers will be forced to fund the legal defenses of dozens of Hamas terrorists from the elite unit which led the October 7th invasion of southwestern Israel, according to a report by Israel Hayom.
The Hebrew daily reported Monday that an Israeli court has ordered the state to provide private attorneys to over 100 Hamas terrorists from the Nukhba Force.
The report comes a week after it was reported by Kan 11 that the court had required that a private attorney be provided at taxpayer expense to one Nukhba Force member.
On Monday, however, Israel Hayom reported that similar rulings had provided attorneys to over 100 others – decisions which sparked outrage among some government ministers.
The decision was reportedly issued in response to the Knesset’s passage after the beginning of the war of an emergency law barring terrorists from being assigned Israeli public defenders.
According to Monday’s report, the court in question ruled that given the new law, individual courts must appoint private lawyers for the defense of the captured terrorists.
Both National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) condemned the court’s ruling.
In addition, Levin’s office announced that the Justice Ministry will refuse to fund the appointment of attorneys demanded by the court for the terrorists in question.
Israeli security personnel have captured over 9,300 terrorists and terror suspects in Gaza since the beginning of the war last October, with over 7,000 more apprehended in Judea and Samaria.
The Nukhba Force terrorists, however, make up only a small portion of the total number of captured terrorists.