JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

10/01/09 07:53 PM

Gilad Shalit, could’ve been released three years ago if the Israeli government wanted him released. Is there some benefit to the Israeli government having him held captive?

10/03/09 08:24 PM

One Jew is worth 1000 Arabs.  I didn’t say this; Hamas did.

10/03/09 09:46 PM

["Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel has released a 15-year-old girl from prison in what it said was the first stage of a deal that will see the exchange of 20 female prisoners for a one-minute video of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. . . ."]

Defence for Children International June 11, 2009 Palestinian Child Prisoners:

The systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities This report documents the widespread ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children at the hands of the Israeli army and police force. It contains the testimonies of 33 children who bear witness to the abuse they received at the hands of soldiers from the moment of arrest through to an often violent interrogation. Children report being painfully shackled for hours on end, kicked, beaten and threatened, some with death, until they provide confessions, some written in Hebrew, a language they do not speak or understand. The report finds that these illegally obtained confessions are routinely used as evidence in the military courts to convict around 700 Palestinian children every year.

Once sentenced, the children who gave these testimonies were mostly imprisoned inside Israel in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention where they receive few family visits, and little or no education. The report concludes that this widespread and systematic abuse is occurring within a general culture of impunity where in 600 complaints made against Israeli Security Agency interrogators for alleged ill-treatment and torture, not a single criminal investigation was ever conducted.

The report also contains recent recommendations made by the UN Committee Against Torture which expressed ‘deep concern’ at reports of the abuse of Palestinian children when it reviewed Israel’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture in May 2009.

http://www.dci-pal.org/english/publ/display.cfm?DocId=1166&CategoryId=8

10/04/09 02:53 AM

I can’t speak to the accuracy of the report Mr. Levin cites, but I do know that virtually every one of those children are in prison because their Palestinian education and often family life teaches them nothing but hate and racism against Jews and other non-Muslim religions.  After all, Israel has better things to do than randomly arresting children.  I have a feeling the Defence for Children report omits those observations.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Suicide-bomber-baby01.jpg

10/04/09 04:40 PM

Be that as it may Gary Katz what earthly reason is there for putting a child in a prison?  There must be better answers and better solutions.  This is a time when we, as Jews, need to seriously remember our commitment to fairness and compassion for others...especially children.  Prison is no place for a child...period.

10/04/09 08:11 PM

I agree as far as mixing children in with adult prisoners, but what would you suggest where the child is caught wearing a suicide belt?  A child throwing a firebomb at a soldier is not too different than an adult doing so.  Both are very dangerous, except the adult can throw it farther and with more accuracy.
Juvenile detention facilities are preferable to prisons.  While incarcerated, it is important to deprogram them from their robotic hatred.  Rehabilitation over punishment, yes.  Children are probably more capable of rehabilitation anyway, compared to adult fanatics.
Ideally, those who recruit children for terror should receive the harshest penalties imaginable, with extreme prejudice.

10/05/09 09:04 AM

Following the release of the Gilad Shalit video in exchange for 20 Palestinian female terrorists who were involved in attempted murder, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has repeated the organization’s threats to kidnap more soldiers. Hamas sees the release as vindication of its kidnapping-for-hostage policy.

Mashaal said:
“The resistance, which has succeeded in capturing Gilad Shalit, keeping him alive and well for more than three years, giving him proper treatment, and excelling in conducting indirect negotiations, is capable of capturing [another] Shalit and [another] Shalit and [another] Shalit, until not a single prisoner will remain in the enemy’s jails.”
http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com/2009/10/pmw-bulletin-hamas-repeats-threat-to.html