Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have both blasted the Israel Courts Administration over its request for funding for legal representation for captured combatants suspected of carrying out the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel.
Levin said in a statement to the press on Wednesday: “I stand by my decision made at the beginning of the war: The Justice Ministry will not finance [this]; the Public Defender’s Office will not represent the Nukhba terrorists.”
Smotrich made similar comments, noting that his ministry had received a request to find a source of funding for “the Nukhba terrorists who massacred, slaughtered, raped and murdered Israeli citizens on October 7,” describing the request as “insane.”
Where is the line drawn between what’s legally mandated or not when hundreds of terrorists willingly participated in the October 7 massacre? Should Israel really have to provide funds for this? Who is requesting a source of funding and have they lost their minds?