Meeting with Terrorists in Israel

Recently some Israeli MKs have condemned a Palestinian MK of Israel for meeting with the families of terrorists and proposed forbidding them from serving in the Knesset. But this condemnation led to others to wonder if the same standard will be applied to Israeli Jewish MKs.

Israeli leaders have not only met with the families of convicted terrorists, some of them even employ them. Take Nathan Nathanson, who was convicted in 1985 for his involvement in the Jewish Underground and taking part in three car bombings against Palestinian mayors in June 1980. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Today Nathanson is a political advisor to Education Minister Naftali Bennett.

Or take Ze’ev “Zambish” Hever, a veteran leader of the settler movement and the subject of a recent investigative report, exposing him for fraudulently purchasing Palestinian land for the purpose of building illegal settlement outposts. Hever, who was also a member of the Jewish Underground, served a scant 11 months in prison for placing a bomb under a car belonging to Dr. Ahmed Natshe, a political figure in Hebron, in 1984. He has been closely associated with several Israeli prime ministers, most prominently Ariel Sharon, who is known as the father of the settlement movement. (Edo Konrad, Jewish politicians meet with terrorist families too, 972 Magazine, February 7, 2016.)