National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir should retract his decision to investigate the Gilboa Prison "pimping affair" with the same committee as the new Ramon Prison sex scandal, the lawyer for the Gilboa victims said in a letter on Monday morning.
Keren Barak wrote to Ben-Gvir that the criminal proceedings against terrorist Mahmoud Atallah, who allegedly sexually assaulted at least six female conscript guards, and the Gilboa commanders who allegedly tacitly allowed it, could be jeopardized by a joint committee.
The two cases appear completely different, said Barak, as it appears from media reports that the Ramon guards had consensual relationships with a terrorist.
"Any comparison or connection between the two stories is a crime!" wrote Barak.
On Sunday the lawyer for one of the Ramon guards disputed the reports that she had willingly had a relationship with an inmate terrorist. Attorney Yair Ochayon told The Jerusalem Post that the terrorist had threatened to “hurt her and her family, and to ruin her life," and that she did not have sexual intercourse with the inmate but had been sexually assaulted by him.
An investigation is ongoing into the incident, but a gag order has been placed on the case.
No more female conscript guards
In response to the new incident, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced Friday that the IPS is set to remove female mandatory service prison guards from security wings within a week to 10 days. He also said on Saturday that he would propose at a cabinet meeting a judge-led government inquiry committee to investigate the IPS’s conduct, the policies on female guards in security wings, and both the Gilboa and Ramon incidents.
In 2021, a then-opposition proposal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the Gilboa pimping affair failed to pass in the Knesset with a vote of 46-41. Some coalition MKs reportedly refused to back the commission due to favor for Omer Bar Lev as Public Security Minister.
Shira Silkoff contributed to this report.