Settler leader and adviser to Israel’s National Security Minister Yishai Fleisher has called for throwing the bodies of Palestinian martyrs “into the sea” after Israeli forces kill them.
In a Tuesday tweet, the adviser of Itamar Ben-Gvir called for throwing the bodies of Palestinians who are killed by Israeli occupation forces “into the sea” instead of allowing their families to hold a “big funeral to honor” them.
“Consider: If Israeli security kills a terrorist and retrieves the body they probably shouldn’t give the bad guy a second life by allowing the Jihad to run a big funeral to honor that terrorist,” Fleisher wrote.
Fleisher added, “Maybe instead, finish the job, take the terrorist’s body and throw it into the sea. Let the Jihadists and their supporters know that if they raise a hand against Israel their death will be final.”
The withholding of dead Palestinian bodies has been practiced by Israeli occupation for decades. However, human rights groups affirm that there has been a significant rise in the withholding of Palestinian bodies by Israeli forces since 2015.
Israeli occupation also imposes conditions on families of the deceased as regards to the burial of the bodies, limiting the size of the funeral, location, timing, and attendees.
Israeli occupation authorities’ practice of confiscating and withholding Palestinian bodies is a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which include absolute prohibitions on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as well as stipulate that parties of an armed conflict must bury the deceased in an honorable way, rights groups have said.
For families, the practice amounts to collective punishment in violation of international humanitarian law. Israeli occupation is withholding the corpses of about 370 Palestinians killed in action since 1967, according to the human rights groups.
