Israel Will Hand Over Slain Palestinians’ Bodies
Israel will turn over to the Palestinian Authority the bodies of more than 90 terrorists, according to Israeli and Palestinian news media.
The handover is scheduled to take place on Thursday. An additional about 40 bodies will be turned over at a later date, according to the Ma’an Palestinian news service.
Included among the bodies to be turned over to the Palestinians is Ramez Aslim, the suicide bomber who attacked the central Jerusalem Café Hillel in 2003. Dual Israeli-American citizens Dr. David Applebaum, head of the emergency room at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, and his daughter Nava, who was to have been married the day after the bombing, were killed in that attack.
The repatriation of the bodies is being called a goodwill gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. It was reportedly agreed to during a meeting in Ramallah earlier this month between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal envoy, Isaac Molcho.
The Almagor terror victims association on Wednesday criticized the government for the handover of bodies.
“The Netanyahu-Barak-Mofaz government is giving a boost to terror and abusing the bereaved families and the injured. This is a government without a heart and without a brain,” said Meir Indor, chairman of the association.
An official ceremony to honor the terrorists will be held in the presidential compound in Ramallah on Thursday, Palestinian Authority civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh told Ma’an.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
