Leaked Video: Palestinian Terrorist Doesn't Let 3 Life Sentences Prevent Him From Engagement Party...in Prison

Reception line at prisoner engagement party (screen shot from Ynet)

The news website Ynet obtained video captured in a high-security Israeli prison showing the engagement party of a convicted Palestinian terrorist – replete with a large spread of sweets, cigarettes, and juice (devout Muslims abstain from alcohol).

It reports that the party was in honor of Samar Abu Kwick who is serving three life sentences after being convicted of killing two Israeli soldiers in an attack ten years ago.

Ynet reports that the Israeli Prison Service believes a prisoner with a smuggled cellphone made the video inside Eshel Prison and considers the incident to be serious.

A reception line of prisoners is seen in the video, hugging and kissing well-wishers, who are themselves prisoners, as festive music plays the background.

Ynet identified an operative from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Ramzi Aubayd, in the video congratulating the future groom.

Spread of snacks and sweets assembled for the prison party (screen shot from Ynet)

As TheBlaze reported last week, Palestinians imprisoned for security offenses are no longer eligible to take free long-distance university classes while serving time. Three Palestinian prisoners appealed to the High Court of Justice to try to reverse the policy.

Ynet describes some of the conditions of their confinement:

They are however allowed a one-hour break in the prison yard and access to the prison's canteen. For the rest of their time, prisoners are confined to their cells, and this is presumably when the engagement party video was shot.

Unlike criminal prisoners, security prisoners are denied conjugal visits and the right to marry while serving time. More so, they are denied even the right to meet their bride or fiancé.

Palestinian prisoners hand out juice at engagement party (screen shot from Ynet)

Though they are widely derided by Palestinian critics of Israel, Israeli prisons have earned awards internationally for their design and rehab programs. In September, the Times of Israel ran a feature on the prisons. It described one prison where:

…inmates spend most of the day outside their cells, in possession of cell keys and travelling between “campus” facilities for work, sports, dining, etc. A landscaped inner courtyard maintained by inmates allows visiting families to meet in a peaceful atmosphere, a sharp contrast with Hollywood prison-yard scenes.

MSNBC’s “Lockup: World Tour” visited several Israeli prisons. The Times of Israel described one visit:

As Israel’s only prison for women, Neve Tirza houses just over 200 inmates. Lockup producers were surprised to encounter prison facilities including a petting zoo and meditation room with glow-in-the-dark fish tanks. Inmates are seen teaching each other dance, producing art, and even nursing their babies in the prison’s fully-equipped ward for new mothers.

Palestinian terrorist prisoners also earn money while they are locked up. The Palestinian Authority spends $4.5 million per month on salaries to the convicts, the harsher the crime, the higher the payment. Between that and stipends for suicide bomber families, it adds up to a full six percent of the Palestinian budget.

Here is the video of the engagement celebration from Ynet: