Israel’s policy of holding the bodies of dead terrorists as a deterrent to discourage terrorists is proven to work.
Israel has a policy of holding the bodies of dead terrorists as a deterrent to discourage other Palestinians from becoming terrorists and as assets to secure the release of the bodies of IDF soldiers held by Palestinian terrorist organizations.
The fear of not receiving a proper burial as a “Martyr” or of leaving suffering parents behind may discourage some would-be terrorists.
Muhammad Alyan, father of terrorist Baha Alyan, said, “If [the pain of] Martyrdom-death itself were placed on one side of the scales, and [the pain of the body] being held [by Israel] were placed on the other, then [the body] being held would tip the scales…the Martyr’s father doesn’t know that his son will ascend [to Heaven],” Palestinian Media Watch reported.
In 2015, Baha Alyan and Bilal Ghanem boarded a bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood with a gun and a knife and attacked passengers, murdering three Israelis and wounding three others.