Bereaved Israeli Families Launch New Organization to Fight Terrorism

Bereaved Israeli families and victims of Palestinian terror announced the creation of an organization to increase deterrence of Palestinian violence.

Dozens of bereaved Israeli families and victims of Palestinian terror announced the creation of an organization called “Choosing Life,” which will attempt to deter would-be terrorists and fight against the “lavish conditions” provided to terrorists in Israeli prisons.

Comprised of over 40 bereaved families, the majority of whom lost their loved ones in the recent wave of terror that began in the fall of 2015, Choosing Life’s members include Rena Ariel, mother of 13-year-old Hallel Yaffe Ariel who was murdered in her Kiryat Arba bedroom in June 2016. Other members include: Merav and Herzl Hajaj, parents of 22-year-old Shir Hajaj who was murdered in a truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem in January 2017; Noah Litman and Sarah Litman-Beigle, the wife and sister of 40-year-old Rabbi Yaakov and 18-year-old Netanel Litman who were murdered four days before Sarah’s wedding in November 2015; and Doron Mizrahi, father of 18-year old Ziv Mizrahi who was killed in a November 2015 stabbing attack on Route 443 and brother of 22-year-old Alon Mizrahi who was murdered in a suicide bombing at Jerusalem’s Cafe Hillel in September 2003.

The decision to establish the organization was the culmination of the families’ intensive activities conducted over the past two years through which they have advocated for stricter conditions for terrorists in Israeli prisons and for harsher punishments against those complicit in attacks, including family members of the terrorists.

Dvorah Gonen, leader of the organization and mother of 25-year-old Danny Gonen who was murdered while hiking near the village of Dolev in June 2015, stated that “unfortunately, the voices of the bereaved families are not heard strongly enough. Since Danny was murdered two years and four month ago, there is no light in my life. I am dedicating my life to ensure that this does not happen to any more Israeli citizens.”

“The citizens of Israel don’t know the wide-range of benefits that terrorists and their families receive,” added Gonen. “It pays to be a terrorist today. It is absurd, we completely lost our deterrence.”

Hadas Mizrahi, wife of 47-year-old Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi who was murdered in a drive-by-shooting in 2014 by a convicted terrorist freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, said that “the time has come to impose the death penalty on terrorists. It is inconceivable that convicted terrorists could be freed and could then go and murder our loved ones. We must wield an iron fist against terrorism.”

An Absurd Situation

Matan Peleg, Chairman of the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu, which has assisted the families in establishing the organization, noted that Israel has “arrived at an absurd situation wherein terrorists know that it is more worthwhile for them to murder an Israeli than to steal his car.”

“Terrorists enjoy extravagant conditions in prisons and their families receive the finest legal defense courtesy of foreign governments and the New Israel Fund. This is an unacceptable phenomenon that ‘Choosing Life’ is seeking to end,” concluded Peleg.

According to a recent report, 484 Palestinian terrorists incarcerated in Israeli prisons are studying for BA degrees in Al-Quds’ Open University program in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Education, and in direct contradiction of Israeli law.

For instance, Majdi Al-Rimawi, a Palestinian terrorist serving a life sentence for participating in the planning and carrying out of the murder of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001, just received a BA degree in prison.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which monitors Palestinian incitement, reported that terrorist prisoners with academic degrees supervise, test, and grade other terrorists, while lawyers bring in study materials, and bring out grades to be recorded at the university.

By: United With Israel Staff