Institutionalizing torture in Israel: The Firas Tbeish decision. A commentary by John W. Schiemann, PhD

Authors

  • John Wilson Schiemann Fairleigh Dickinson University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/torture.v29i2.116127

Keywords:

Istanbul protocol, Israel, High Court of Justice, Firas Tbeish

Abstract

In her discussion of the court’s dismissal of the IP, she says there “is a legal system that discredits the IP’s potential while digging deeper into its own conception of torture.'' Shir has helped show that this is true more broadly of torture, beyond the IP. Indeed, I suspect the court may not view the IP as a “strange creature” causing “suspicion of the unfamiliar.” Instead, it may be by now a very familiar creature that threatens torture’s impunity in Israel, and what Shir shows is that the court has developed a systematic strategy to counter it. Torture is possible in Israel because the government and courts are complicit in deliberately creating a legal and institutional black hole where boundaries are ill-defined and obscure, and no light can shine.

References

B'Tselem and HaMoked. (2007). Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees. Retrieved from https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/sites/default/files2/publication/200705_utterly_forbidden_eng.pdf

Firas Tbeish et al. v the Attorney General et al., HCJ 9018/17 (2018). Retrieved from http://stoptorture.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F.-Tbeish-Ruling-Nov. 2018.ENG_.pdf

Public Committee Against Torture v State of Israel, HCJ 5100/94 (1999). Retrieved from https://supremedecisions.court.gov.il/Home/Download?path=EnglishVerdicts94

Firas Tbeish et al. v the Attorney General et al., HCJ 9105/15 (2018) (in Hebrew). Retrieved from http://stoptorture.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/‫החלטה-טביש-מתוקן-1‬.pdf‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Amnesty International. (2016). Israel: Submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture by Amnesty International, 57th Session, 18 April-13 May 2016.

Levinson, C. (2017, Jan 24). Torture, Israeli-style -- as Described by the Interrogators Themselves. Haaretz.. Retrieved from https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-style-torture-as-described-by-the-interrogators-themselves-1.5489853

Levinson, C. (2015, March 6). Torture of Palestinian Detainees by Shin Bet Investigators Rises Sharply. Haaretz. Retrieved from: https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-torture-by-shin-bet-investigators-rises-sharply-1.5332951.

Luban, D. (2005). Liberalism, Torture, and the Ticking Bomb. Virginia Law Review, 91, 1425-1461. Doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-4678-0_15

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Published

2019-10-30

How to Cite

Schiemann, J. W. (2019). Institutionalizing torture in Israel: The Firas Tbeish decision. A commentary by John W. Schiemann, PhD. Torture Journal, 29(2), 103–107. https://doi.org/10.7146/torture.v29i2.116127