PCATI head Director Tal Steiner said that her organization finally decided to go to the ICC with 17 different case files after multiple factors fell into place.
The head of an NGO explained in a recent interview why they filed a war crimes complaint against the Shin Bet for allegedly torturing Palestinian detainees before the International Criminal Court earlier in June.
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) Executive Director Tal Steiner said that her organization finally decided to go to the ICC with 17 different case files after multiple factors fell into place.
First, in 2017, the High Court of Justice issued multiple rulings closing the door on various avenues which PCATI had thought could lead to judicial intervention. This included when the justices significantly broadened the “ticking bomb” defense for permitting the security agency to use “moderate physical pressure” when interrogating detainees.
Yet, PCATI did not turn to the ICC for around another five years.
So the next important element for Steiner was in March 2021, when the ICC switched from a six-year-long preliminary review of war crimes allegations against Israel to a full-fledged criminal probe.
Finally, there were two decisions by the Justice Ministry unit for overseeing complaints against the Shin Bet which came down in January and April of 2021.
According to Steiner, the abuse of the Palestinian detainees in question was so clear in these two cases, that when even they were closed without an indictment, it proved that the ministry would never take the alleged torture of Palestinians seriously.
This was also in the context when these two cases were the only ones that led to full criminal probes, despite 1,300 complaints being filed over 20 years.
Shin Bet agents ‘gone too far’
In one of the cases, the Palestinian detainee, accused of a terror murder, almost died during his Shin Bet interrogation and was rushed to the emergency room, where his life was saved. The ministry found that the agents might have gone too far, but that the danger to life came from an unexpected preexisting health condition and that since their actions were to stop a future attack, they were not criminal. PCATI disputed that the interrogation had anything to do with disrupting any concrete imminent future attack and said the Shin Bet was so aggressive that it had culpability even if there was a medical condition.
The second case saw the security forces perform a vaginal and anal search for a SIM card they suspected a Palestinian woman was concealing on behalf of Hamas, despite unclear authority for doing so and no imminent danger. In fact, she had hidden the SIM card in her room, where they later found it. But a SIM card is a standard intelligence item which certainly did not justify such an invasive search and the reason the ministry cited for not filing charges was confusion between those involved about who ordered the search.
PCATI said that they are waiting for the ICC to respond, but that if the response is positive, they will give them the names of the allegedly tortured detainees, with a commitment to keep their identities from the public.
ICC’s jurisdiction
Each of the 17 cases comes after the ICC’s jurisdiction over Palestinian issues may have started in 2014 and involved allegations of the most problematic physical abuse, including beatings, use of the body-bending “frog” position, sexual harassment, extreme sleep deprivation and threats against detainees’ family and religious beliefs.
Steiner said that the detainees have rights under international law and cannot be tortured regardless of whether they are suspected of a crime.
She stated that PCATI looks to aid any detainee who may have been tortured, including Jewish-Israelis like Amiram Ben Uliel, who was convicted in the 2015 arson terror murders of the Palestinian Dawabshe family from Duma.
It happens to be that Ben Uliel is not one of the 17 case files sent to the ICC, but that is more related to the technicality that Israel itself has not signed on to the ICC’s Rome Statute.
Next, she was questioned about ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who has made a number of pragmatic decisions, closing cases such as the one against the US for torturing detainees in Afghanistan to avoid a political deadlock.
Steiner said, “I believe he will act professionally and believe he will make the right decision.”
Asked if she or PCATI have faced new punitive consequences from the Israeli government or from activists, she said not to date and that she viewed her actions as having been for the sake of Israel – in the sense of trying to keep it acting at a higher moral level.
Moreover, she said PCATI’s filing with the ICC did not signal an end to contact with the ministry or the courts, such as B’Tselem’s decision a few years ago to start limiting its cooperation with the Israeli authorities.
Rather, she said that regular dialogue and contacts she has with the ministry oversight unit’s chief, Guy Asher, have continued the last couple of weeks even after PCATI filed the ICC complaint.
She said she would also still continue to testify before Knesset committees about the issue.
For example, she said it is important to voice criticism to the Knesset that it has not included in a new proposed basic law about defendants’ rights, a clear prohibition on torturing detainees.
The High Court has prohibited torture since 1999, but she said the absence of a statute on the issue has helped the Shin Bet wiggle out of liability many times.
Steiner did compliment Asher on speeding up the response time for new complaints.
However, she said that the average response time, including older files, was still four-and-a-half years and the ministry has still rejected every complaint.