Semantics matter

Haaretz reports:

The question of [Rabin assassinator] Yigal Amir’s right to conjugal visits and to father a child is fundamentally one of semantics. Having been classified as a “murderer,” he is entitled to all the natural rights granted to criminal killers. Had his crime been defined from the outset as “a terror attack” (as it truly was), and were he himself to have been called a “terrorist” (as he truly was) – Amir would have faced a military trial and fallen into the category of “security prisoners.” And, as we all know, no one dreams of giving those people natural rights like conjugal visits and fathering children. They’re Arabs, after all. On the other hand, as a security prisoner, Amir would surely have been a candidate to appear on the list of prisoners due to be released in the deal to free Israel’s captives.

If you think about it, Amir’s terror attack served Hamas more than all the suicide bombings put together.

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