Israel’s National Security Council announced a plan to stop detained terrorists from being treated in public hospitals, said the council's Chair, MK Zvika Fogel, after raising the issue during a meeting this Tuesday.
“We want to see terrorists behind bars, not roaming the corridors of hospitals,” said Fogel during the meeting, and added: “We are the most moral people in the world, but that doesn’t mean we are going to reward terrorists.”
MK Yulia Malinovsky from Yisrael Beytenu, who originally pushed for this initiative to be discussed, stressed: “There is no doubt that we must provide medical treatment to terrorists, even if it greatly frustrates us. The question is: what kind of treatment, in what order, and in what frameworks?”
“If practical measures are not implemented, we will need to promote legislation," she emphasized.
According to Fogel, although Israel is obligated to uphold international conventions that define terrorists’ medical rights, ways must be found to minimize treatments conducted outside prison walls.
Dr. Yosef Wolfish, Chair of the Ethics Bureau of the Israeli Medical Association, clarified that a doctor is obligated to treat every person equally, regardless of their identity: "A doctor is not supposed to know whether someone is a terrorist or not; he provides the best possible care."
The plan to stop terrorists from being treated in public hospitals
The Health Ministry explained that treatments provided to terrorists in hospitals are given under the responsibility of the detaining authority, the Israel Prison Service or the IDF, depending on the situation.
“The authority that determines when a prisoner is transferred to a hospital is the detaining authority, according to its protocols, considerations, and capabilities,” they clarified.
Aviv Israeli, lawyer for the National Security Ministry, stated: “The Prison Service makes every effort to keep medical treatment within prison walls. A prisoner is only transferred to a public hospital when absolutely necessary, and always with proper security escort.”
In the same line, Lt. Col. Eilon Raz, Head of Medics and Paramedics Division at the Prison Service, added: “We intend to expand some of the clinics in prisons to include specialists. In many cases, we conduct video consultations between prisoners and specialist doctors.”