Let Him Rot
Sometimes, a question is so stark that even Israeli politicians manage to agree:
Prisons' Authority Chief, Insp.-Gen. Ya'akov Ganot, met with legal advisers Monday morning and announced that Yigal Amir, the assassin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, will not be permitted to get married...
Israeli law does allow prisoners serving life-sentence to marry. MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said to Israeli Radio that the law enabling murderers such as Yigal Amir to marry while in jail must be changed...
Labor Party leader Shimon Peres said the Knesset should legislate a law to prevent Amir's marriage...
Shinui MK Etti Livni drafted legislation to prevent marriage by a political assassin, but the Shinui faction decided not to advance it because of possible legal hurdles...
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein proposed instead that Justice Minister Yosef Lapid advance legislation to ban media exposure of Amir, adding that there is nothing that gives Amir more satisfaction than such attention...
Labor MK Eitan Cabel submitted a bill that would ban marriage and consummation for all lifers who have not had their sentences reduced.
Well, all the politicians except for those from Meretz. But their aversion to nuance and their fetishistic insistence on absolute principle as a substitute for judgment is something we've come to expect.
Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On said that as much as the murder and the murderer are despicable, different types of murder cannot be differentiated. She said the Prisons Service decision not to allow him to marry is a "dangerous precedent" that is illegal and won't withstand legal challenges. According to Gal-On the only way to stop Amir from getting married is to pass a law banning marriage for all murderers.
He murdered Yitzhak Rabin. I think we can make an exception for him - let him rot and, as the dat'eim say, let his name be erased from history.
UPDATE: The Ha'aretz editorial staff agrees with me. Well, even they can get it right some of the time apparently (although this isn't exactly a tough call).
ANOTHER UPDATE: I just got an email that quite properly points out that "the [Ha'aretz] editorial is arguing that Amir should be allowed to marry, just like any other murderer in Israeli prisons." Quite right - that sentence should have read "the Ha'aretz editorial staff agrees with me about the way that this is breaking down" in terms of who's on what side. Just to be clear: the editorial advocated allowing Amir to marry.
Prisons' Authority Chief, Insp.-Gen. Ya'akov Ganot, met with legal advisers Monday morning and announced that Yigal Amir, the assassin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, will not be permitted to get married...
Israeli law does allow prisoners serving life-sentence to marry. MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said to Israeli Radio that the law enabling murderers such as Yigal Amir to marry while in jail must be changed...
Labor Party leader Shimon Peres said the Knesset should legislate a law to prevent Amir's marriage...
Shinui MK Etti Livni drafted legislation to prevent marriage by a political assassin, but the Shinui faction decided not to advance it because of possible legal hurdles...
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein proposed instead that Justice Minister Yosef Lapid advance legislation to ban media exposure of Amir, adding that there is nothing that gives Amir more satisfaction than such attention...
Labor MK Eitan Cabel submitted a bill that would ban marriage and consummation for all lifers who have not had their sentences reduced.
Well, all the politicians except for those from Meretz. But their aversion to nuance and their fetishistic insistence on absolute principle as a substitute for judgment is something we've come to expect.
Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On said that as much as the murder and the murderer are despicable, different types of murder cannot be differentiated. She said the Prisons Service decision not to allow him to marry is a "dangerous precedent" that is illegal and won't withstand legal challenges. According to Gal-On the only way to stop Amir from getting married is to pass a law banning marriage for all murderers.
He murdered Yitzhak Rabin. I think we can make an exception for him - let him rot and, as the dat'eim say, let his name be erased from history.
UPDATE: The Ha'aretz editorial staff agrees with me. Well, even they can get it right some of the time apparently (although this isn't exactly a tough call).
ANOTHER UPDATE: I just got an email that quite properly points out that "the [Ha'aretz] editorial is arguing that Amir should be allowed to marry, just like any other murderer in Israeli prisons." Quite right - that sentence should have read "the Ha'aretz editorial staff agrees with me about the way that this is breaking down" in terms of who's on what side. Just to be clear: the editorial advocated allowing Amir to marry.
