How can torture be both banned and common practice? The answer lies in the Israeli Shin Bet’s history, where secrecy has prevailed.

Despite these requirements under international law, human rights organizations report children are poorly treated by the Israeli military justice system, including the use of solitary confinement for minors. This is unacceptable and is one of the key issues we should be focusing on, in holding Israel to account for its human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

Ramzy Baroud writes, “Of the dozens of Palestinian and Arab prisoners I interviewed in recent months for a soon-to-be-published volume on the history of the Palestinian prison experience, every single one of them underwent a prolonged process of torture during the initial interrogation, that often extended for months.”

Samer al-Arbeed was arrested by Israel’s special security forces on Wednesday, September 25. By Friday the 27, he was unconscious in the hospital with kidney failure, broken ribs, and marks all over his body.