Israel’s leading human rights groups will no longer provide information on solider misconduct to army investigators. After years of delayed military investigations for two Israeli wars in Gaza, the last without any army abuse convictions, the Israeli legal rights group Yesh Din and the human rights organization B’Tselem said, “the military law enforcement system is a complete failure” and is “incapable of conducting professional investigations.”
In the past B’Tselem and Yesh Din submitted evaluations of “irregular” army practices to internal investigations. When an army official requested reports of illegal conduct in Gaza after the 50-day offensive Operation Protective Edge, the human rights organizations announced they will no longer submit claims to the military. “Initial investigation indicates that some 40% of Palestinians killed in the operation were minors, women, and people over the age of 60,” responded B’Tselem to Lt. Col. Ronen Hirsch in a letter, “This reality is, in part, the direct result of directives given to the military, some of which raise grave suspicion of unlawfulness,” the letter continued.
Over the past few years of thousands of suspected army violations, only a handful of convictions have been handed down to low-ranking soldiers. Yesh Din research found before 2008 only 2.2 percent of army investigations led to indictments. Three wars later that number has dropped in half to only 1.4 percent.
In the aftermath of Cast Lead in 2008-09, which killed over 1,500 Palestinians in three weeks, there were 400 incidents noted for possible misconduct, only 62 cases were investigated, of which a mere three indictments issued. “The harshest sentence,” of seven and a half months prison, said B’Tselem, “was given to a soldier who stole a credit card.” No criminal investigations have opened against the army after Operation Pillar of Cloud in 2012.
Perhaps the most notable crime during Cast Lead was the use of white phosphorus on a United Nations school that caused indiscriminate death and burns on Palestinian civilians taking shelter. However, Israeli law prohibits the investigation and prosecution of war crimes. There is no internal system to censure those who ordered the attack on the civilian infrastructure. And, since the second Intifada, no officers have ever been convicted of wrongdoing.
Moreover, the army unit responsible for conducting investigations is the same unit that provides legal assistance in advance of military operations.
“Common sense has it that a body cannot investigate itself,” said Executive Director of B’Tselem Hagai El-Ad, “Yet, again, the military will be investigating its own conduct in Operation Protective Edge; again, these investigations will not be supervised by anyone outside the military,” continued El-Ad.
“Every year, we caution against the sorry state of the investigation system,” said Yesh Din’s Executive Director Neta Patrick. Those recommendations to army investigators include basic steps such as the presence of a fluent Arabic speaker and launching timely investigations. Of the cases of on-going army investigations independently reviewed in 2011, Yesh Din found the average time between a submitted request to begin and the start of the investigation was 702 days. “The inescapable conclusion is that the Government of Israel is not willing to investigate harm caused to Palestinians,” said Yesh Din’s Director Neta Patrick.
Separately evaluators with the international human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been barred from entering Gaza to conduct their own assessments. Human Rights Watch received their latest rejection from Israeli officials on August 19, 2014. “I’m afraid that’s still the case,” said Bill Van Esveld, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher in Jerusalem via telephone to Mondoweiss. “We need to get more people in,” continued Van Esveld who said Israeli officials in the Civil Administration told him they are “not processing any application” to enter Gaza for human rights investigators.
I hope and pray that this heralds the end to Israel’s notorious impunity for crimes against humanity.
Israel is a complete joke at this stage
Watch the video first
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEQSs3Y2lgE
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.614881
“Israel issued its defense statement on behalf of an officer convicted of beating five demonstrators in a civil suit brought on by one of his victims, claiming that not only should the plaintiff not receive compensation but that the defendant suffered more than his victim.
A military court in December convicted Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner, in a plea bargain, of beating five Palestinians and foreign activists with both his rifle and fists during a demonstration in April 2012. Some of the demonstrators, including Naim Shakir, 36, of Al-Sawiya, needed medical treatment. Al-Shakir filed a suit in June seeking 16,000 shekels ($4,620) in medical costs, plus 60,000 shekels ($17,320) to cover his lost earnings.
Eisner – then a deputy brigade commander – hit Shakir in the back with the butt of his rifle, according to the military court verdict, during a confrontation between demonstrators protesting Israel’s presence in the West Bank and soldiers. As a result, Shakir said in his suit, he needed physiotherapy. He also still suffers pain that affects his functioning and has impaired his ability to work in construction.
At his sentencing hearing last December, Eisner acknowledged he had “made mistakes” during the confrontation, but noted that the demonstrators had injured him as well: He suffered a broken hand.
The state denies Shakir’s right to compensation. “The claimant’s injuries, if they occurred at all, are exaggerated and not related at all to the actions of the defendant,” the state asserts. If the plaintiff receives any financial compensation, the defense statement reads, “The defendants have the right to deduct for damages caused to them, including damages to Defendant 1 (Eisner) … including pain, suffering and emotional distress.”
The state asserts that Shakir was an integral part of the rioters, “who violated law and order maliciously and intentionally in a violent way.” The defense counter concludes that therefore Shakir should not only be held accountable for his own injuries but also for “much greater bodily damage” caused to Lt. Col. Eisner. ”
I would just note that anyone in Galut injured by anti-Semites expects (rightly) that the full force of the law is applied against their assailants. Why is this not possible in Israel ?
“Israeli law prohibits the investigation and prosecution of war crimes.”
Since the creation of Israel involved war crimes this is understandable.
Israeli law prohibits the investigation and prosecution of war crimes. – See more at: https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2014/09/leading-israeli-investigations#sthash.zoGZZJYD.dpuf
what law is this?
(also, please excuse my link that accompanies the copy paste, i’m simply too lazy to erase them all the time so i’m going quit exerting the effort.)
yesh din reported (perhaps it was yossi gurvitz reporting) about a year ago, hundreds of complaints, violations against palestinians in the WB committed by settlers over a long period, and the vast majority were not ever investigated. and the ones that were ended up being dismissed. so it’s not just war crimes or crimes committed during major offensives. it’s the constant everyday violence, it’s not investigated or prosecuted except on rare occasions.