Ben Gvir accuses High Court of ‘direct harm' to security as Red Cross pushes to renew visits to prisoners

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accuses the High Court of Justice of harming the deterrence capability of Israel's security forces, after reports that the International Committee of the Red Cross will meet with Israeli security officials this week as part of efforts to resume visits to Palestinian prisoners. The planned meeting comes after the High Court unanimously ruled to annul the government's blanket policy prohibiting the ICRC from visiting Palestinian security prisoners and halting the sharing of information about them following October 7. 'The High Court's directive to allow visits to the Nukhba terrorists, for the first time since October 7, constitutes direct harm to the State of Israel's security deterrent,' Ben Gvir writes on X, referring to Hamas's elite fighting force. The minister also refers to human rights groups as the 'enemy,' and misrepresents a quote from Supreme Court President Isaac Amit to claim that the court is biased in their favor. 'Unfortunately, the High Court consistently serves as an address for the appeals of the enemy, and as Justice Amit said to petitioners on the issue of bringing goods into Gaza, 'this court makes itself available to you',' Ben Gvir writes. Amit had, on June 10, 2024, challenged petitioners demanding more aid for the Strip to specify how they would distribute aid more effectively than the IDF has. He said 'this court is available to you, makes itself available to you,' to hear those suggestions. Ben Gvir further claims that there are fewer terror attacks because of the worsening he has championed in Palestinian security prisoners' living conditions. 'The security reality is clear: a decrease of about 75% in terror attacks. And that, according to the Shin Bet, is, among other things, because of the reform in terrorists' jail conditions,' Ben Gvir claims. The Shin Bet in January published an annual report for 2025 that indicated a roughly 77% decrease relative to 2024 in the number of 'serious terror attacks' by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The report did not mention the worsened jailing conditions. A similar report by the IDF cited a roughly 78% decrease from 2024 to 2025 in the number of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis in the West Bank and Israel, but attributed that decrease to the military's own counter-terror operations rather than the worsening of prisoners' living conditions. The same report also recorded a more than 50% spike in 2024 in severe attacks by settlers against Palestinians.