What’s happening in Israeli prisons and military camps? How has Israel investigated allegations of serious abuse against Palestinian detainees? What role is the judicial system playing? Our partners at Asymmetrical Haircuts Janet Anderson and Stephanie van den Berg have invited Tal Steiner from Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. And it’s a damning report.
It is currently alleged that since the attack by Hamas on October 7 last year, the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons has doubled. It is up to 10,000, including 40% administrative detainees – an unprecedented situation. Extreme overcrowding, shortage of food, security and medical assistance, systematic abuse by prison guards seem to be the norm. And in military camps, “we’ve seen things we’ve never seen before,” says Steiner. “This is the crisis we are facing.” Provisional detention, access to a lawyer and to a judge: all protections have deteriorated. The laws “build the ground” for abuse. And it amounts to forced disappearance, according to her.
Out of 1450 cases of torture complaints filed in the past 20 years, zero have led to an indictment. And that was before October 7. “This is the scale of impunity Israel awards people committing torture,” Steiner says. “It’s just horrific.” Individual complaints are and will be filed, she warns. It gives a chance to the national justice system to do better. And it serves the purpose of proving that the domestic system is not ready to act. But Steiner expresses her disappointment that treatment of prisoners does not appear among the grounds of the arrest warrants asked by the ICC prosecutor. “We need international intervention to stop these violations.”
ASYMMETRICAL HAIRCUTS
This podcast has been published as part of a partnership between JusticeInfo.net and Asymmetrical Haircuts, a podcast on international justice produced from The Hague by journalists Janet Anderson and Stephanie van den Berg, who retain full control and independence over the contents of the podcast.
