Israel's court bans use of torture

Christian Century, Sept 22, 1999

Liberal Jewish rabbis, and one leading Islamic religious figure, have welcomed a September 6 landmark Israeli Supreme Court ruling explicitly banning the torture of imprisoned security suspects. But the decision has drawn fire from Jewish religious nationalists who say it will undermine Israel's efforts to prevent terrorist attacks.

"The ruling certainly is in keeping with Jewish teaching, which does not allow you to exploit an individual under your control except in a situation of life and death," said David Rosen of the Jerusalem Office of the Anti-Defamation League. Arik Asherman of Rabbis for Human Rights described the court ruling as the culmination of a decade-long campaign by Israeli and international human rights activists to outlaw the forms of physical abuse that have long been sanctioned within the interrogation cells of the Israeli Shin Bet, or General Security Services.

Sheikh Abdullah Nimmer Darwish, a leader of the Islamic Movement based inside Israel, characterized the ruling as a "democratic and humane decision." He called on Israeli Arabs to clamp down on extremist Arabs continuing to carry out "crimes" against Jews--a reference to recent suicide car bombings in Tiberias and Haifa in which several Israelis were injured and at least three suspected terrorists were killed.

Sharp criticism of the Supreme Court decision, however, was heard in religious nationalist circles. Hanan Porath, a leading Orthodox politician, declared that in the aftermath of the ruling Israel's security services might as wen close up their offices and hand over their investigative functions to the Supreme Court. --RNS