In its response to the High Court of Justice, the state opposes curtailing the half year punishment prohibiting convicted Rabin assassin Yigal Amir to receive telephone calls. The punishment is part of the canceling of his privileges for granting an unauthorized media interview, which by the way was never aired.

Amir maintains that the punishment given him is far more severe than the punishment meted out to other prisoners guilty of the same violation.

Interestingly, the state is more than willing to deprive Amir of privileges, supported by the left-wing while civil rights activists remain silent but the same does not hold true regarding efforts to minimize or eliminate many privileges given to Hamas terrorists towards pressuring Hamas to release Gilad Shalit.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)