Right rallies for Jewish terror suspects

This posting has 4 items:
1) Forward: Family Claims American Teen Held as Jewish Extremist Is Being Tortured by Israel, one of the 3 arrested boys is an American citizen, now a ‘hilltop youth’;
2) +972 When Israel tortures Jewish terror suspects, unlike the many articles like the one below, Noam Sheizaf points out that harsh treatment of Palestinian detainees is commonplace – and no right-wing Jews protest;
3) Jewish Press: Large protest outside Shabak Chief’s house;
4) Ha’aretz: Teen Jewish Terror Suspect in Custody Claims Shin Bet Is Torturing Him, as an Israeli paper, Haaretz is bound by the gagging order, December 20th.

Protest in NY City.

Family Claims American Teen Held as Jewish Extremist Is Being Tortured by Israel

By Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Forward
December 23, 2015

“My son is not connected to the Duma arson in any way,” said Naamah Odess, Elisha Odess’s mother, in a recording played for the Forward by Ilana Odess. “Yet that did not stop the Jewish department of the [Shin Bet] in arresting him and physically and psychologically torturing him, to the extent that he tried to commit suicide.”

Elisha Odess’s name has not appeared in the mainstream press, though it has been printed on some websites, including Electronic Intifada and the blog Tikkun Olam.

Israeli law allows the security authorities to detain suspects indefinitely without charges, subject to court authorization, a practice called administrative detention. Agents of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, are allowed under some circumstances to employ so-called special methods of interrogation, which some advocacy groups have said amount to torture.

Both “administrative detention” and “special methods” are used far more often against Palestinian prisoners than against Israelis. According to a report by the civil rights group B’Tselem, 429 Palestinians from the West Bank were being held in administrative detention in Israeli prisons at the end of October. The B’Tselem report, last updated in early December, states that only nine Israeli citizens living the West Bank have been put under administrative detention “over the years.” At least six Israeli Jews are currently being held in the wake of the Duma arson attack, according to Israeli press reports.

Ilana Odess confirmed that Elisha Odess was the subject of a December 20 Haaretz report on an unnamed minor who, held on suspicion of involvement in Jewish terrorist activities, told an Israeli judge that the Shin Bet was torturing him. The article reported that the minor told the judge he had attempted suicide. The date of the unnamed minor’s arrest matches the date of Odess’s arrest. According to the Haaretz report, the minor broke down crying in the courtroom. “They are taking me apart, bending my whole back, laughing and looking at me with contempt,” he said. “They turn me upside down until my hands start burning. It feels like they are burning me with a lighter.”

According to the Haaretz report, the judge “did not ask the police or Shin Bet for any clarifications.” The Shin Bet told Haaretz that the detainee had not attempted suicide and that the agency had acted “in accordance with the law.”

At a December 17 press conference in Israel, Odess’s attorney and other attorneys representing Jews held by the Shin Bet following the Duma fire alleged that their clients had been tortured. The Shin Bet quickly issued a forceful statement defending its conduct and attacking its detractors.

“A Jewish terror organization has been under investigation recently, whose activity is suspected to include serious terror attacks,” the statement read, according to a report on the Israeli website Ynet. “This organization adheres to an extreme, anti-Zionist ideology, that has set itself the goal of violently overthrowing the Israeli government.

“The terror attacks that are suspected to have been carried out by the organization led to, among other things, the murder of three innocent Palestinians.”

The Shin Bet statement claimed that the agency was facing a “proactive and ongoing effort to slander the [Shin Bet] and its work, and to disrupt its activities. This attempt deserves full condemnation and will not deter the Shin Bet from continuing its work as envoys of the citizens of the State of Israel, in line with national values.” Days later, on December 22, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the Shin Bet’s conduct. “The head of the Shin Bet, Yoram Cohen, and his staff are doing important work,” Netanyahu said, according to Haaretz. “The attacks on them are unacceptable to me.”

Other Jews currently under administrative detention in connection with a crackdown on alleged Jewish extremists also hold dual citizenship, including American citizen Mordechai Meyer, 18, and Australian citizen Evyatar Slonim, 23.

Elisha Odess grew up in the West Bank settlement of Tzofim, near the Palestinian city of Qalqilya. The son of a rabbi, Odess has six siblings. Odess was not attending high school at the time of his arrest. His grandmother said that he was “basically living at home,” but was also staying at hilltop settlement outposts in the West Bank.

Since Odess’s arrest, other members of his family have also been interrogated. Blumi Odess said that Odess’s mother, sister and an aunt were “interrogated in a very hostile way.” The aunt, who lives in Israel, was “interrogated, insulted, spit at,” Blumi Odess said. “She can still hear the shouts.”

“We believe he has nothing to do with this case whatsoever,” Ilana Odess said. “We welcome [the chance] to catch the people that did this atrocious thing, we welcome it. But it has to be within the means of the law.”

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis

When Israel tortures Jewish terror suspects

Jaffa, Palestinians protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, Jaffa, Israel. Photo by Mati Milstein

The Right is furious over the alleged use of torture against the suspects in the murder of a Palestinian family. But is it any surprise that the tools used against Palestinians would eventually be used against Jews too?

By Noam Sheizaf, +972
December 21, 2015

“Torture in Israel? The Shin Bet’s actions in the Duma case may turn out to be the secret service’s new ‘Bus 300 Affair,’ wrote Yehuda Yifrach, the legal expert for the right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon and the NRG news site, on his personal Facebook page.

Well, of course there is torture in Israel — it has been used here on a regular basis for decades. There was even an investigatory committee that dealt with the issue and the High Court even established a legal framework for the use of torture. There are also many testimonies that show how the Shin Bet regularly strays from that framework, using interrogation techniques that can be categorized as torture in order to force prisoners to confess, and not only in cases of a “ticking bomb.”

The Israeli Right has been accusing the Shin Bet of using violent interrogation methods against the suspects in the murder of three members of the Dawabshe family in Duma this past July. The suspects were allegedly prevented from seeing a lawyer until last Wednesday, prompting a large right-wing demonstration outside the home of Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen Saturday night.

Yirach’s bewilderment, as well as that of many on the Right, is not really about “torture in Israel,” but rather about the “torture of Jews.” This is a different question entirely. The attitude underlying Yifrach’s message is that Palestinians are not actually part of the Israeli system, despite having to obey its orders. They do not have the same civil rights as Jews, which makes admissible in court a confession extracted from a Palestinian minor, while a confession by a Jewish minor using the same techniques is inadmissible.

In truth, this is not the attitude of the Right, but of the Israeli mainstream, which is convinced that the occupied territories are part of Israel (or, at the very least, are disputed), while millions of people who live in this territory are not part of Israel, and they are not entitled to the same civil and human rights as Israelis. But the reality is that both the people and the land are under Israeli control and are subject to Israeli law — or Israeli military law — whether they want it or not. Israel is a democracy that controls a population in the West Bank through military dictatorship, and one of the most common tools used by dictatorships is torture.

The distinction between the occupied territories and Israel exists only in our minds. In reality, there is one system that governs different populations and parts of the land using different means. The moment one of those means is used against one population, there is no problem using it against the others. The interrogators are the same interrogators, the High Court the same High Court, the norms the same norms, and the legal framework the same legal framework.

Israeli activists participate in an action protesting the use of torture, 2011. Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org

The only thing we are left with is circumstance, such that when the government wants to — for instance following a murder that horrifies the public and does damage to the government’s image abroad — the public not longer has any principle objection to using torture against Jewish minors as well. In fact, according to the security establishment, the need to do so might sometimes be more urgent: As opposed to Palestinians, who tend to confess to their crimes due to the pressure from lengthy periods of incarceration and an absurdly high conviction rate in military courts, Jews know their privilege and do not tend to confess to security-based crimes, where there is generally less forensic evidence.

This is the reason why human rights must be universal and must not differentiate between Jews, Arabs, asylum seekers or any other population. The sad irony is that on the same week that the Right took to the streets — justifiably — to protest the interrogation techniques used on the Jewish detainees, the executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Ishai Menuchin, was personally targeted by the recent campaign of incitement against human rights activists. I wonder how many of the rightists who protested in front of the Shin Bet chief’s home on Saturday are aware of PCATI’s struggles and successes against the state’s torture policy, which included a victory in the High Court in 1999 forbidding the Shin Bet from violently shaking suspects during interrogations. Had it not been for the decades-long work by PCATI or the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Duma suspects’ situation would have been worse. Far worse.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and ACRI both published statements calling to uphold the Duma suspects’ rights. Yet the political center in Israel views torture as a legitimate tool. It also derides the leftists who oppose torture — whether to protect the rights of Palestinians or Jewish settlers — as bleeding hearts. But human rights organizations know one thing very well that the rest of the Israeli populace continues to ignore: the occupation will not end at the 1967 borders. It is impossible to maintain a dictatorship within a democracy. When it is politically expedient, the tools used in the occupied territories are also used in Israel. Torture is not a necessary evil to be wielded against violence — whether it comes from the Right, the Left, or the Palestinians. On the contrary: torture is part of the violence of the regime of occupation, and the way to deal with violence — on all sides — is to put an end to the occupation.

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If there is one thing that stands out over the past few years, it is the way in which the occupation has corrupted both Israeli institutions and the public sphere. There is a straight line that connects the history of human rights activism by groups like B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence, to the restrictions on political activism inside Israel, to the violence by Jews against Arabs, to the use of violent interrogation methods against Jews. The key to all these phenomenons can be found in the failure of the political establishment, from the right, center, and left to solve the issue of the occupied territories.

The Jewish public has adopted the status quo as the solution. But the price of that status quo continues to climb, both internally and externally. The violence continues to undermine our sense of security, while international pressure continues to grow. The legitimacy of Israeli policy, and often of Israel itself, continues to deteriorate. Not a single political power in Israel is interested in change, yet the existing reality is becoming harder and harder to swallow.

We must not forget the Right’s sweeping victory in the last elections, which gave its representatives the feeling that they have an unlimited mandate to wipe out every political rival. When the Right fails to come to an agreement or gain legitimacy, it turns to might; when that doesn’t work, the demand for power grows even stronger. This includes using additional means to oppress Palestinians (more arrests, more home demolitions, more firepower), and new methods of eliminating political opposition — strengthening the ability to govern, restricting civil society groups, outlawing political movements, the boycott law, summoning activists for threatening conversations, preventing human rights organizations from meeting with high school students, restrictions on transferring funds from abroad, severing ties with “hostile representatives” from around the world (even when they come from the governments most friendly to Israel). All of this is already happening, and we can only imagine what kind of steps will be deemed necessary in three, five, or 10 years. The occupation is not going anywhere, and we will continue to import the methods used in the West Bank to Israel.

These are not necessary steps in the struggle for the survival of the Jewish People. These aren’t even necessary steps in the struggle for the survival of the State of Israel. This is the struggle for the survival of an unjust regime, whose ultimate end is clear; the only question is how much blood will be spilled on the way. Even Jewish terror, with which the state is currently trying to contend, is part of a well-known phenomenon: fringe groups among the oppressing population, which do a better job than the regime of instilling fear into the oppressed group. Violence, on all sides, is a direct outcome of the violence of the occupation. One cannot treat the symptoms without dealing with the disease.

As opposed to the consensus among the right wing, or the depraved admiration for the likes of Putin that has become commonplace lately, we must remember that oppressive regimes are also the most fragile, and whose deterioration is usually painful and violent for all parties. Liberal democracies are likely the most stable kind of regime that we know — they contend with both internal and external threats better than most dictatorships. That is, unless they decide to turn into dictatorships themselves.

Right-wing protesters gather outside the home of Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, December 19, 2015. The protests have continued. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi

Large protest outside Shabak Chief’s house

Hundred of Israelis are protesting against the administrative detentions and torture of Jewish minors by the Shabak.

Jewish Press News Briefs
December 19, 2015?

More than 1000 Israelis protested outside the home of Shabak (Shin Bet) chief Yoram Cohen in Ramot, Jerusalem. They are protesting against the ongoing administrative detentions and torture of the “Hilltop” minors, according to a TPS report.

The Shabak is Israel’s secretive internal security agency, the “Hilltop” youth are teenagers, many of them high school dropouts, who move to empty hilltops in Judea and Samaria and try to build new homes and communities there, and the “Jewish Unit” is a unit within the Shabak that is tasked with finding Jewish terrorists, whether they exist or not.

The detained youths were not allowed to meet with their families or lawyers for 3 weeks.

After some of the detained minors were finally allowed to meet with their lawyers last week, and the torture techniques being used on the teenagers became public knowledge, a groundswell against the Shabak’s “Jewish Unit” tactics has begun to develop.

The Shabak’s “Jewish Unit” suspects that some of the “hilltop youth” may have been involved in the Duma arson that killed 3 Arabs in the Duma village, and they have rounded up all the teenagers and thrown them into the Shabak cellars where their lawyers report they have been tortured in order to draw out a confession.

Police pepper spray a protester against Shabak torture in Jerusalem on Dec. 20, 2015. Photo by Hillel Meir / TPS

Yet despite three weeks of torture, apparently none of the minors have admitted to having any connection to the Duma attack, and the Defense Minister says there is apparently no evidence either. Last week, Defense Minister Yaalon said they believe the Hilltop children did it, but they only lack the evidence to prove it.

Besides the administrative detentions of the teenagers, the Shabak keeps bringing other family members in for “questioning”, sometimes keeping them for hours, only to let them go right before Shabbat.

While arresting yet another minor at his parent’s home last week, the Shabak allegedly told the parents that he wouldn’t be seeing his T’fillin (religious articles) for a long time.

Police have also arrested 4 people who were on the way to the Saturday night protest. According to the Honenu legal organization they were subsequently released.

After most of the protesters left, a few dozen people tried to approach Cohen’s house.

Due to the reports of torture, Rabbi Dov Lior has given special permission for their lawyers to speak with the youths on Shabbat by cellphone, and even travel to where they’re being held, if needed, according to an INN report.

Even leftwing NGOs are beginning to speak out against the actions of the Shabak.

The Shabak released a statement last week claiming that all their actions are within the law.

Teen Jewish Terror Suspect in Custody Claims Shin Bet Is Torturing Him

Teenager tells Petah Tikva judge at closed-door hearing that he has tried to commit suicide; ‘claim is baseless,’ Shin Bet says.

Chaim Levinson, Haaretz
December 20, 2015

A minor who has been detained on suspicion of involvement in Jewish terror activity claimed Sunday he is being tortured by the Shin Bet security service.

The teenager, A., lives in a West Bank community and was arrested three weeks ago. He was allegedly prevented from seeing a lawyer until last Wednesday. He cried during Sunday’s closed-door hearing at Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court and told the judge he had tried to commit suicide in detention.

“They turn me upside down until my hands start burning – it feels like they are burning me with a lighter,” A. told the judge, according to sources involved with the case.

A. and the judge were alone in the courtroom during the discussion.

“Every day it goes up a level … I didn’t sleep last night and I won’t sleep tonight either, unless something changes. They are violently questioning me about something I can’t help them with, because I don’t know. They are taking me apart, bending my whole back, laughing and looking at me with contempt. The hell with it, what am I supposed to do?

“They yell at me, ‘Murderer, murderer!’” A. continued. “Where can I run? Where is their doubt that maybe I’m actually right? This is the worst injustice the State of Israel can do to a person.”

The judge asked the teen if he had been given the shot he needed for a medical condition he suffers from. “I would prefer not to get any medicine and that they just stop with all these beatings,” the boy replied. He later burst into tears and said, “I can’t go on.”

The boy then added, “It’s a whole night of abuse. I told them, ‘Kill me, bring me poison!’ I’m begging you, your honor, I can’t [take] anymore. Does the court have any way of controlling the investigation?”

Despite A.’s descriptions, Judge Erez Nurieli ordered the teen’s remand extended. He did not ask the police or Shin Bet for any clarifications regarding the investigation.

A.’s attorney, Adi Keider, complained that his client had “recounted all these terrible things, and nobody opens his mouth. This is horrible. It should concern all of us that the judicial system is in cahoots with the prosecution, police and Shin Bet.”

The Shin Bet said it was a state organization and all its activities were lawful: “Shin Bet investigations are conducted in accordance with the law, and are subject to the oversight of the attorney general, state prosecutor and the courts. The claim that one of the detainees tried to commit suicide is baseless.”