High Court majority rules: Israel Prison Service fails to provide adequate nutrition to prisoners

The petition alleged that the policy of trimming down food counts as hunger and holding prisoners in torturous conditions, which goes against both Israeli law and international law.

The Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, ruled on Sunday that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) has failed to provide adequate and nourishing food to security prisoners – all of whom, except for the Jewish prisoners, are Palestinian – as is required by law. The broad policies of both the IPS and Israel Police can and are set by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, though not the specific or operative policies or decisions.

The majority and minority opinions in the ruling were split on how the legal principles that the IPS is legally bound to should be applied in practice. In the majority opinion were Justices Dafna Barak-Erez and Ofer Gorsskopf, while the minority opinion was held by Justice David Mintz. The IPS said in response that it would closely examine the ruling and the recommendations provided.

The petition came to life after a series of prisoner testimonies emerged on conditions inside the facilities, as well as several statements on the matter by Ben-Gvir himself and IPS representatives. The petition was submitted last April by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Gisha, with a demand to provide adequate food to security prisoners identical to that of criminal prisoners.

Testimonies indicate that since October 7, 2023, when the Hamas-led cross-border massacre attack left 1,200 people dead and 251 kidnapped, of which 48 remain held in captivity, a policy of hunger has permeated prisons against security and Palestinian prisoners, the number of which grew dramatically since October 7. One testimony told of a diabetic prisoner who ate his own toothpaste to raise his blood sugar, as well as of others who dropped significant body weight.

The petition alleged that the policy of trimming down food counts as hunger and holding prisoners in torturous conditions, which goes against both Israeli law and international law.

After two hearings on the case in December, the court issued a conditional order for a government response, leading to the Sunday ruling after it was submitted.

ACRI Attorney Oded Peler said, “This policy, which has been led by Ben-Gvir for two years now, turned Israel’s prisons into torture camps – and per testimonies by survivors of Hamas captivity, worsened the conditions of the hostages. The IPS must be cleansed from the Kahanism that has grabbed it, and make sure that the ruling is fully applied.”

He added, “A functional, law-abiding state does not starve human beings – regardless of what they have done.”

Requirements from IPS

The IPS is required by law to provide security prisoners with basic living conditions – including food, in volume and quantity that would allow them to maintain their health. It must also ensure that each prisoner has access to the menu and that prisoners in solitary confinement have all their legal needs and requirements met.

Barak-Erez explained that the State’s response to the petition doesn’t even begin to properly respond to the queries and challenges about its policies that ACRI and Gisha had raised, and that there exists a “serious suspicion” that the food service that exists today doesn’t meet the legal standard. The court clarified the IPS’s obligations and listed a series of next steps in the matter.

“It is impossible to block out the intense emotions and pain surrounding the war, first and foremost of our brothers and sisters held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas, whom we see before us always,” reads the ruling.

“However,” it continued, “this cannot serve as an excuse to ignore or glide over obligations that rest upon the relevant authorities. We are not discussing conditions of comfort or luxury, but rather minimal and basic conditions that are required by law.”

Mintz, in contrast, deduced that the State had indeed taken steps to improve the service, especially when it comes to food.

Ben-Gvir attacked the justices personally in response, asking, “Are you for Israel?” and denying the crux of the petition, which was accepted by the court, that the IPS is not meeting its requirements as designated by law.

He drew an equivalence to the remaining hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after they were kidnapped on October 7, 2023. “The hostages, who are starving in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza, have no High Court to defend them. Here, on the other hand, and to our embarrassment, there is a High Court to defend Nukhba terrorists who murdered and raped our people.”

“We will continue to provide the terrorists who sit in our prisons with the basic minimal conditions required by law,” said the national security minister.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has marked the Supreme Court as the main opposition that exists and threatens the power of the rule of the elected officials – the government and the Knesset – echoed the equivalency to the hostages.

“This ruling is yet another proof – for whoever still needs it – of the severe damage the court is inflicting on Israeli security,” said Levin.

He added, “This is why I insisted on changing the method to appoint judges… What we need are judges that prioritize security and justice, rather than crave the acceptance of progressive and liberal legal scholarship.” A hearing on the petitions against the legislation to change the appointment method of judges – part of the larger judicial reform – is scheduled for December.

The judges wrote in the ruling, “let us not share a single thing in common with the very worst of our enemies.”

They referenced, as well, testimonies by captivity survivors, who have said that when the conditions of Palestinian security prisoners worsened – and public officials like Ben-Gvir gloated about it to the press – they suffered at the hands of their captors.