It was 16 years ago, when the earth shook. Many of the readers of this column were still small children, but the adults will remember it well. This was the talk of the day for many days: On 25 Elul 5759, the Supreme Court ruled, in a ruling that has since become known as the "Torture Court," that the Shin Bet could no longer use physical interrogation methods and various torture methods against terrorists, even when they are defined as "ticking bombs.".<\/p>\r\n
Judge Kedmi argued at the time that a way must be found to permit the use of torture, as a last resort, against "ticking bombs," but he agreed with the majority opinion. The bottom line was clear: terrorists in the State of Israel, even though the human dignity of Jews in the State of Israel is not at all before their eyes, have rights in Israel by virtue of the Basic Law "Human Dignity and Liberty." The hands of the Shin Bet have been tied, terrorists will no longer be tortured.<\/p>\r\n
16 years have passed, and the Duma detainees' affair reminds everyone that only terrorists have rights in the State of Israel. How I would like to think that this outrageous ruling would apply, at the very least, to Jews as well. But it turns out that's not the case. When it comes to Jewish detainees in cases against Arabs, the law enforcement authorities do not hesitate to violate their rights and use physical force against them. When I read the stories of the detainees' families about the harm they suffered, I was reminded of the following story, the only conclusion of which is: Don't believe the Shin Bet. Even if the Shin Bet claims, from now on, that someone confessed to the Duma affair, I won't believe it, after I've seen its methods of operation.<\/p>\r\n
It was quite a few years ago, several years after that scandalous High Court decision. Certain areas in Jerusalem suffered a blow: Arab boys were harassing Jewish girls. Someone, it turns out, decided to take action and severely beat one of these boys. The police went wild trying to get to the bottom of it. And so, one bright day, a young man, innocent of any crime, found himself in custody. The charge: "You beat that Arab and put him in a difficult situation.".<\/p>\r\n
The real culprit? He lived in the neighborhood where the incident occurred, and someone decided he was in the area at the time, which was completely untrue.<\/p>\r\n
From then on, what the young man and his family went through was pure hell. After the first few days of his arrest, the young man was brought in for an extension of his detention, and the judge approved a one-week extension. Meanwhile, under various pretexts, the police also brought the young man's sister in for questioning, without any reason to allow it. The family felt persecuted. By the end of that week, the investigators had no leads tying the young man to the crime, and the judge ordered his release.<\/p>\r\n
And only then did it become clear what hell that guy had been through. Is it forbidden to apply physical pressure against terrorists? This rule does not apply to Jews. The interrogators beat him to death. This is how he described the interrogation:<\/p>\r\n
\""You hurt him!"\"<\/p>\r\n
The interrogated person: "I don't know what you're talking about.".<\/p>\r\n
A powerful slap in the face. The whole face is hot. "You did it! Thank you!"\"<\/p>\r\n
\""This has nothing to do with me. You arrested the wrong person.".<\/p>\r\n
A slap from the other side. Horrifying screams. "It's you! Thank you!"\"<\/p>\r\n
\""I have nothing to confess, I didn't do it!"\"<\/p>\r\n
A punch to the stomach (or was it a kick, several years have passed and this exact detail has faded from my memory). And so on...<\/p>\r\n
And so it went on for a whole week. Only by a miracle did a boy who was not yet 20 manage to endure it and not give in, and not admit to an act he did not commit in any way.<\/p>\r\n
But what if he broke down and confessed? What if he couldn't hold on to the simple knowledge that he didn't do it, and confessed only to resign himself to the physical and mental torture he had endured?<\/p>\r\n
In case you were wondering, the accused in the act was caught, confessed, and also served several years in prison. But one can shudder from the knowledge that an innocent person could easily have been in prison, because in the State of Israel, where it is forbidden to torture terrorists, it is permissible to torture Jews without any basis [the story has been slightly modified].<\/p>\r\n
So when the Shin Bet brings us "results" in a Duma case, don't be too quick to believe. They may be real results, but always keep in mind that someone who is too weak may simply break, as the wife of one of the detainees said about her husband: "They will make him confess to everything.".<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Human rights and the prohibition on the use of torture disappear in the State of Israel when the detainees are Jews suspected of violence against Arabs \u2022 Tzipi Yarom recalls the abuse suffered by a young Jewish man who was falsely suspected of beating an Arab in the Shin Bet basements, and asks: Don't believe them","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[9908,4015,3675,1949],"class_list":["post-234543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-138","tag-9908","tag-4015","tag-3675","tag-1949"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n