Israel Prison Service Limits Red Cross Visits to Security Prisoners Despite Supreme Court Ruling

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has implemented new restrictions on Red Cross visits to security prisoners, sparking criticism from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the newspaper Haaretz. More than two months after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state must resume Red Cross visits to these inmates, the visits have yet to be fully restored. The Association for Civil Rights has appealed to IPS Commissioner Kobi Yakobi and State Attorney Gali Baharav-Miara, demanding urgent responses and condemning the restrictions as contempt of the court ruling.

The Supreme Court, led by President Isaac Amit, Deputy President Noam Solberg, and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez, invalidated the government's previous ban on Red Cross visits, stating it lacked legal basis under Israeli or international law. Despite this, last month the IPS introduced a six-month protocol severely limiting the visits. Under the new rules, the Red Cross may conduct only one visit per quarter, with prior approval, intelligence checks, and additional conditions.

The protocol restricts visits to a list of five prisoners submitted in advance and excludes "particularly dangerous" prisoners, those in isolation, or under investigation from meeting Red Cross representatives. Each visit is limited to a maximum of 30 minutes and may be shortened by the prison commander. These measures have raised concerns about the treatment of security prisoners and compliance with legal standards.