The hidden list of Jewish terrorists Israel’s far right wants to free
Right-wing Israelis protest demanding pardon for Jewish prisoners serving sentences for terror offenses, outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, 20 October 2025
Sivan Tahel writes in +972 on 3 December 2025:
In a 111-page letter that his lawyer submitted to President Isaac Herzog on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu formally requested a pardon for charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust that have been circling him since 2019. The appeal immediately generated headlines around the world and further inflamed deep-running tensions between the Israeli prime minister’s supporters and opponents. But it also coincided with a parallel campaign — one that has drawn much less media attention — by Israel’s far right to obtain presidential pardons for Jewish extremists in prison for violent crimes against Palestinians.
In late October, 11 ministers and 44 other members of the governing coalition signed a letter calling on Herzog to release Jewish prisoners convicted of murder, arson, and other racist attacks. Initiated by Limor Son Har-Melech of Itamar Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power Party (Otzma Yehudit), the letter was sent after Israel agreed to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees (including around 250 prisoners serving life sentences) in exchange for Israeli hostages as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
However, the exact number of Jewish “security” prisoners (as distinct from regular “criminal” prisoners), the crimes they are accused of, and the length of their sentences remain unclear. And in response to email requests, the Israel Prison Service, the President’s Residence, the Shin Bet, MK Son Har-Melech (who holds the record among lawmakers for prison visits), and the Honenu legal organization (which defends Israeli Jews accused of security offenses — or, as their website puts it, those who “find themselves in legal entanglements due to defending themselves against Arab aggression, or due to their love for Israel”) all declined to offer any detailed information.
The sentencing of Israeli Jews for attacks against Palestinians is extremely rare. According to data collected by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, 94 percent of police investigations into attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians are closed without indictment, while the probability of an Israeli soldier being indicted for killing a Palestinian is 0.4 percent.
Still, particularly egregious cases do occasionally end in a prison sentence. A Honenu spokesperson refused to provide a full list of these individuals, but stated that the number of prisoners whose release they had petitioned was “a few dozen” — including some in pre-trial detention, some who were convicted, and some who are in community service. A spokesperson for the Israeli president, meanwhile, said he had received more than 30 pardon requests for Jewish security prisoners.
At the forefront of this campaign — which involves Honenu and Son Har-Melech but is also being driven by “grassroots” far-right activists — are two veteran prisoners whose cases have long generated considerable fervor among the far-right public. The first is the convicted mass murderer Ami Popper, whose sentence Herzog was reportedly considering commuting even before the parliamentarians’ letter, in order to minimize right-wing resistance to a Gaza ceasefire deal and “balance out” the release of Palestinian prisoners.