Palestinians Celebrate Return of Released Terrorists

Jerusalem, 26 November, 2023 (TPS) -- Videos posted on social media showed Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem celebrating the return of 39 terrorists freed by Israel on Saturday night as part of a partial prisoner exchange with Hamas.

The 39 Palestinians are all women and minors.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had instructed police to prevent celebrations from taking place in eastern Jerusalem.

While some of the Palestinians aren’t associated with any specific terror group, others are affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The released Palestinians will be allowed to return to their previous residences.

Most notable of the freed Palestinians is would-be suicide bomber Israa Jaabis. She somehow survived when she blew up a car with gas cylinders near Maale Adumim in 2015. A police officer was injured in the attack. Jaabis made headlines in 2022 when her request for a nose job was rejected by the Israeli Prisons Service as a cosmetic procedure not necessary for Jaabis’s health.

In January, Defense Minister Yoav Galant revoked travel permits for three Palestinian Authority officials who participated in a celebration for the release of Karim Younis, one of the longest-serving prisoners jailed for terror. The three had traveled to the Younis family’s home in ‘Ara, south of Haifa.

Younis and his cousin, Maher, killed Cpl. Avraham Bromberg in 1980 as he was on his way to an army base in the Golan. Younis was greeted by large crowds in ‘Ara. The police’s failure to prevent the celebration prompted Ben-Gvir to order an investigation into how the festivities were allowed to occur.

At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. Another 240 men, women, children and soldiers were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Some people remain unaccounted for as Israeli authorities continue to identify bodies and search for human remains.