JERUSALEM, April 13, 2008
Israel Accused Of Psychological Torture
Human Rights Group Says Ban Of Physical Torture Has Not Protected Palestinian Prisoners From Abuse
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(CBS/AP)
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Interactive Mideast Conflict Events, key players and a history of the world's most unstable region.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel made the allegation in an 86-page report that examined six cases over the past year. It says Israel has put more emphasis on psychological torture since Israel's Supreme Court restricted the use of physical torture in a 1999 ruling.
In one case, the group said, Israeli agents convinced a suspect his wife had also been arrested and tortured, driving him to attempt suicide. In another, they detained a couple for an extended period, tortured them physically, and withheld information about their two young children to try to break them.
The Shin Bet internal security agency, which conducts the interrogations, denied the charges.
A parliamentary committee heard the group's findings in a special session Sunday.
A 1999 Israeli Supreme Court ruling sharply limited the Shin Bet's interrogation methods, essentially outlawing torture except when there was clear evidence the suspect had information that could save people from an attack in the making. The Supreme Court outlawed what the Shin Bet called "moderate physical pressure," such as exposure to extreme temperatures and tying up detainees in painful positions.
However, the Shin Bet has come under criticism for its new methods, which include shackling suspects in contorted positions and depriving them of sleep for long periods of time.
Yoav Loeff, a spokesman for the human rights group, said the Shin Bet has added using relatives as leverage during interrogations.
"They use family members to force people to confess and they cross all the red lines along the way," he said.
The Shin Bet said in a statement that it never detains relatives of suspects, or presents false information to its suspects in an attempt to elicit information.
"Terrorist investigations are conducted by the Shin Bet according to the Supreme Court ruling, under the restrictions of the law and the tight supervision of the Justice Ministry and the courts," a statement read.
"The information acquired in these investigations allows for foiling acts of terror, and many civilians in Israel owe their lives to these actions," it added.
The report Family Matters: Using Family Members to Pressure Detainees Under GSS Interrogation" is available online, in Hebrew; an English language version will be available soon.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 63 CommentsFor those defending Israel consider this, if they were a benevolent presence, they wouldn''t be hated, bees do sting, but the honey they make is worth keeping them.
For those who cower in fear at the extremely slim chance that a country like Iran would someday launch nuclear tipped warheads at the US, ICBMs can shoot down anything they launch long before it enters US airspace. Russia had more than we did, how many did they launch? Besides, who is the first and only country to use nuclear weapons against another nation?
Let the M.E. sort itself out, we don''t need to waste our resources there, we should use our military solely for our own defense, "war" as a tool of foreign policy is obsolete.
Zionists have been torturing palestinians for their land for decades now, and still, the world sits and does nothing.
U.S. intelligence officials are quietly confirming that China has deployed its newest long-range missile. The Chinese army now has up to 12 Dong Feng 31 (East Wind) missiles, which can deliver nuclear warheads against America.
Frid April 11th 2008.
The times of London has released photographs of a "secret" long range missile site southeast of Tehran from which Iran is said that in 5 years it would be capable of firing missiles having a range of 6,000 km (4,000 miles). That would be more than enough to reach Europe, Britain, China Russia and most of India.
The article said...Will this wake the world up to the fact that Iran''s nuclear aspirations are not just Israel''s problem? dont hold your breath.
We have to wake up to the fact that Islamic terrorists have carried out more than 10904 attacks since sep 11th.. In one month alone they carried out 167 attacks, in 14 countries, killing 847 and critically injuring 1712.. but where is the media on this???
and hermitDave, when 3000 of Americans died on Sep 11th, most Americans felt it was right to destroy those who had caused the problem, so do you also expect this tiny little country to sit there and take what has been handed out to them over the past 50 years, where was the media when Muslims sat down in synoguges, shopping centers, schools, preschools, buses etc and bew themselves up, killing and maming hundreds of babies, children, women and men, the world sat there and said nothing, now that they are fighting back, we try to tell them that they should just sit there and let themselves be blown up...
This is a small country, where over a million Muslims work and live, now if it was that bad dont you think that these Muslims would get out.. but they choose to stay there and they dont want to leave and if Israel was that bad wouldnt they have killed all Muslims in Israel by now as Muslims did with Jews in Muslim countries..
Islams aim is to take the world for Allah and dont think that it is only Jews that they want dead..
What all Arab nations have done to their Jewish population (who greatly contributed to making their nation great. The Arabs and Muslims stole everything the Jews had, and then either kicked them out or murdered them.
Statistics of Jews in Arab Countries: Shocking - These stats were taken from "Myths and Facts" - a great book by Mitchell B. Bard. You can go to the internet link for this book at: http://standwithus.com/links.asp
First number is from the year 1948, the second number is taken from the year 2000:
Algeria 140,000, ..................Less than 100
Egypt 75,000,............................... 200
Iran 100,000,. .................12,000 to 40,000
Iraq 150,000,................................100
Lebanon 20,000,............................. 100
Libya 38,000,................................. 0
Morocco 265,000,....... ...................5,800
Syria 30,000,................... ............200
Tunisia 105,000,................... .......1,500
Yemen 55,000,............................ ...200
See a pattern???? and what do Muslims think of pagans/infidel, are we in for any better,,,,,hmmmm
And much much more, do you think that this has changed today, of course not, they follow this man implicitly..
What do all these countries have in common..
UK, Spain, Tunisia, Iraq, Russia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania, Bali, Indonesia, Philippines, USR, Egypt, Britain, Sudan, India,China,Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Armenia, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir and Myanmar, and the list goes on.
What do they all have in common? In each country or province, there is an ongoing struggle involving Moslems and non-Moslems....Not other religions with anyone, but Muslims with non Muslims????.hmmm
Do you see the Tora saying things like this from the Quran..
Qur%u2019an 8:12 %u201CI shall terrorize the infidels. So wound their bodies and incapacitate them because they oppose Allah and His Apostle.%u201D
And who are the INFIDELS??? it is us...
Ishaq:327 %u201CAllah said, %u2018A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land.
Qur%u2019an 33:26 %u201CAllah made the Jews leave their homes by terrorizing them so that you killed some and made many captive. And He made you inherit their lands, their homes, and their wealth. He gave you a country you had not traversed before.%u201D
Qur%u2019an 59:2 %u201CIt was Allah who drove the [Jewish] People of the Book from their homes and into exile. They refused to believe
Bukhari:V5B59N516 %u201CWhen Allah%u2019s Apostle fought or raided people we raised our voices saying, %u2018Allahu-Akbar! Allahu-Akbar! None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.%u2019%u201D
#2 - Physical torture in Saudi Arabia.
#3 - Beheading, just because you are different, by terrorists.
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To use TheGateway1 analogy above - if as a woman I am raped I should be happy I was not also beaten and killed. I should "take" the basic rape over being raped, beaten and killed.
This mess in Israel will ruin this country financially - and I am still at a loss to figure out what we get out of it. Do they go to war with us, do we get compensated for all the aid we give? (and yes there is a lot of aid)
Think about it - as a nation Israel did not exist from 73 AD to 1948 other people settled that land in that period - they are supposed to now go into the sea because Europeans killed 6 million Jews?
#1 - Psychological torture in Israel.
#2 - Physical torture in Saudi Arabia.
#3 - Beheading, just because you are different, by terrorists.
I see - they will say the VP of the US authorized torture, but Israel is sacrosanct.
Sure, sure...
Again, no US media company will mention anything about Israel''s secret torture prison, Facility 1391.
What, does the Israeli embassy in Wa, DC call up news editors and complain about it? It''s been called Israel''s Guantanamo. It''s embarrassing, but it should be since it exists.
It''s supposedly up near the NW corner of the West Bank, on the Israeli side along the road from Afula to Hadera. That''s only about 10 miles SW of where Jesus supposedly lived, in Nazareth.
Here''s a little info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_1391
http://www.counterpunch.org/cook11122003.html
http://www.newsweek.com/id/54121
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/nov/14/israel2
Stick to the subject, please. The issue here is not what Iran''s president says, it''s Israel''s psychological torture of prisoners--which is clearly illegal.
And there is plenty of reason to criticize psychological torture, no matter who does it.
Law abiding nations observe the standards established in the 4 Geneva Conventions dealing with prisoners and warfare. They spell out very clearly what is acceptable and what is not, despite what the Bush admin may say. I would spell out the basics of the requirements here, but then you''re a history major (or so your name implies); look them up. Want a link?
It is unfortunate that the President of Iran can claim that there are no homosexuals in the country (knowing they are murdered) without much criticism while Israel is attacked for messing with prisoners head. Perhaps the Israelis should incorporate "mental torture" into their religion to protect it from criticism.
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Posted by gce65 at 12:21 AM : Apr 14, 2008
THERE IS TORTURE GOING ON IN PALESTINE TO BY THEIR GOVERNMENT. THERE IS TORTURE GOING ON IN IRAN. THEIR IS TORTURE IN NORTH KOREA, THERE IS TORTURE IN CHINA.
WHY IS ISREAL THE ONLY COUNTRY BEING PICKED ON? BECAUSE CBS DOES NOT BELIEVE IN A JEWISH STATE.
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