Israel’s top court rules prisoner food rations below legal standard

Ben-Gvir condemned the decision, questioning whether the judges were “of Israel” and contrasting the court’s protections for prisoners with the lack of legal safeguards for Israeli hostages in Gaza.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Israel’s highest court ruled on Sunday that the state is failing to provide Palestinian security prisoners with enough food to survive in Israeli jails.

In a 2-1 decision, the High Court of Justice ordered the government to ensure meals sufficient for a “basic existence,” concluding that current conditions fall short of legal obligations.

The case was brought last year by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Gisha, who accused National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) of intentionally cutting rations to dangerously low levels.

The petitioners argued that the policy amounted to deliberate starvation.

Judges Daphne Barak-Erez, Ofer Grosskopf, and David Mintz agreed that prisoners are legally entitled to adequate nutrition.

Barak-Erez and Grosskopf, writing for the majority, found the state had not met this standard.

Barak-Erez noted, “It must be remembered that the painful testimonies of freed [Israeli] hostages show that a stricter food regime [for Palestinian prisoners] does not improve the suffering of our kidnapped brothers who are still in trouble and captivity, and even the opposite.”

Grosskopf added that Israel had not convincingly shown it was meeting its nutritional obligations.

Mintz dissented, arguing that the government provides a legally sufficient diet through approved menus and the delivery of food to prisoners.

Oded Feller, attorney for ACRI, called the ruling “a halt to Ben-Gvir’s policy of starving security prisoners. A state does not starve people,” he said.

Ben-Gvir condemned the decision, questioning whether the judges were “of Israel” and contrasting the court’s protections for prisoners with the lack of legal safeguards for Israeli hostages in Gaza.

“Our hostages in Gaza have no High Court to defend them. The murderous Nukhba terrorists and abominable rapists have, to our disgrace, the High Court protecting them,” he said, insisting that his ministry would continue providing prisoners with only “the most minimal conditions under the law.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin echoed Ben-Gvir’s criticism, stating, “While the hostages are being starved in the tunnels, a duo of judges in the High Court require that the food given to the worst terrorists be improved.”