Israeli government advances bill to bar mass releases of terrorists

The Israeli government coalition has initiated a bill aimed at preventing future mass releases of terrorists and limiting negotiations over potential hostages. The proposal was introduced by Ohad Tal, a lawmaker from the coalition’s National Religious Party, following recent warnings by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that costly wartime deals with the terrorist organization Hamas incentivize further kidnappings of Israeli nationals. The bill seeks to codify restrictions on the release of security prisoners in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians.

“There is no doubt that the release of terrorists in exchange for hostages during the war will encourage future abductions,” Netanyahu argued during a recent cabinet meeting. 

Hamas kidnapped 250 people from Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and used them as bargaining chips to secure the release of many convicted terrorists and murderers in Israeli jails. After two years in very difficult captivity in Gaza, the last 20 living hostages were released in October in an American-brokered Gaza ceasefire in exchange for a large number of convicted terrorists. 

The new bill is supported by the Yachin Institute, an Israeli research center that promotes policies that are rooted in Jewish values. The center plans to arrange a conference next week, which will reportedly be attended by Tzvika Mor, the father of Israeli hostage survivor Eitan Mor and other families of hostages. 

David Zini, the head of Israel’s intelligence agency Shin Bet recently warned cabinet members that “the threat of kidnappings has not gone down. It has risen and will continue to rise, because there is a price for the way we paid for the release of the hostages.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, senior political sources commented on the Shin Bet’s security warning concerning abductions. 

“This is not the first time Zini has made this statement in closed discussions, as part of his professional assessment of the threats. He is saying that terrorist organizations and our enemies have seen that kidnapping Israelis pays, and that the threat of kidnappings of Israelis in Israel and abroad has increased,” the sources told the Israeli news outlet Ynet News. 

Israeli hostages are a highly sensitive topic in Israeli society, and the Jewish state has been willing to pay a very high price for the release of its citizens. In 2011, Israel released over 1,000 terrorists in exchange for the release of the kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who spent five years in Hamas captivity in Gaza.

However, at the same time, Israeli society is increasingly aware of the growing costs of releasing convicted terrorists from jails. One of the terrorists that was released in the Shalit deal was Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas top leader and the main architect of the Oct. 7 massacre.

In October 2024, Sinwar was killed in a firefight with Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. 

While there is a growing reluctance towards releasing dangerous terrorists like Sinwar, unnamed coalition officials told Ynet News that the new bill is nevertheless considered controversial due to the limitations it places on potential future hostage negotiations. 

“This is a burden the public may not be able to bear,” one cabinet source noted, referring to the massive rallies across Israel during the past two years calling for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.