UN panel says Israel operating ‘de facto policy of torture’

The UN Committee on Torture says there is evidence that Israel is implementing a “de facto state policy of systematic and widespread torture.”

The Committee regularly reviews the records of all states that have signed the Convention against Torture, and takes testimony from their governments and human rights groups.

During the Israeli review, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups provided harrowing details about conditions in Israeli detention centers. Israel has allegedly arrested thousands of Palestinians since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.

Under Israeli laws relating to administrative detention and unlawful combatants – suspects who cannot be classified as prisoners of war – they can be held for long periods without access to a lawyer or family members.

Many Palestinian families say they waited months to discover that a loved one had been arrested, which amounts, as the UN panel said, to “enforced disappearance.”

The committee particularly criticized Israel’s reported use of the Unlawful Combatants Law to detain entire groups of Palestinians, including children, pregnant women and the elderly.

But it is the reported detention conditions that represent the bleakest reading in the commission’s conclusions, published today.

Evidence indicates that Palestinians are regularly deprived of food and water, and subjected to severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding and sexual violence. Some are allegedly permanently shackled, denied access to a toilet, and forced to wear diapers.

The committee concluded that such treatment “amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.” She said evidence of “a de facto state policy of systematic and widespread torture” by Israel is one of the acts that constitutes genocide under international law.

Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations against it of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

One of the committee members, Peter Fidel Kissing from Denmark, said he and his colleagues were “deeply appalled” by what they heard. Committee members also said they were deeply concerned about the lack of investigations or prosecutions into allegations of torture. They called on Israel to launch independent investigations and ensure that those responsible, including senior army officers, are held accountable.

Israel, which has long accused the United Nations of bias against it, did not comment publicly today on the committee’s findings, but during the committee’s hearings, its ambassador, Daniel Meron, described the torture allegations as “misinformation.”

He said that Israel is “committed to fulfilling its obligations in line with our values ​​and moral principles, even in the face of challenges posed by a terrorist organization.”

In its conclusions, the UN panel was careful to unequivocally condemn the Hamas attack in October 2023, and acknowledged the security challenges facing Israel.

But she also warned that violations of international law by one side do not justify the other side doing the same. Under the convention, to which Israel is a party, the prohibition of torture is absolute: it is not permitted under any circumstances.

But Israeli domestic law is less clear, suggesting that the convention applies only to Israeli territory, and not to the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank — an interpretation disputed by many international lawyers.

These results come amid increasing pressure on Israel regarding its human rights record. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday in Geneva The killing of two Israeli soldiers of Palestinians in the West Bank appeared to be a “summary execution.”. A video clip of the killing showed the two men raising their hands and appearing to have surrendered to Israeli forces.

United Nations relief agencies say that conditions for people in the Gaza Strip remain dire, despite the ceasefire. They warn that thousands of families are facing the winter cold and rain in tents, insufficient aid supplies are arriving, and Israeli air strikes continue against what Israel says are Hamas targets.