Gaza Reels (video)
ACCOUNTABILITY STILL DENIED - Periodic Update: January 2012
Between 2001 and 2010, 701 complaints of torture and ill treatment were received and processed by the Inspector of Interrogee Complaints. Not one of these complaints has led to a criminal investigation.
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Exposed - The Treatment of Palestinian Detainees during Operation “Cast Lead”
During the time in which the army held detainees in the Gaza Strip, with no supervision and with no judicial review, the soldiers treated them cold-heartedly and illegally exploited them for military purposes, especially in order to help protect the lives of the Israeli soldiers. Some of the detainees interviewed by PCATI and Adalah described how the army used them as human shields for many days, sometimes even for as long as ten days. The use of civilians for military purposes as human shields constitutes a grave violation of both international and Israeli law. The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly forbids all use of the protected civilian population to assist the military needs of the occupying army or forced use of the local residents as a means towards military advantage or for the securing of intelligence. The prohibition includes the use of civilians as “human shields”, their taking as hostages, and the threatening of family members with physical harm in order to extract information about their relatives.
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"Accountability Denied: The Absence of Investigation and Punishment of Torture in Israel"
The sixth layer of protection, and the subject of this present report, is the façade of investigations into complaints of torture and abuse. As this report will make apparent, not a single one of the hundreds of complaints submitted in recent years has resulted in the opening of a criminal investigation. Complaints of torture by GSS interrogators submitted to the Attorney General are forwarded for inspection by the Officer in Charge of GSS Interrogee Complaints (OCGIC), a function filled by a GSS agent. Thus complaints of torture during GSS interrogations are examined by a GSS employee who does not constitute an independent or impartial investigator. The report prepared by the OCGIC on his examination is sent to the official in the State Attorney's Office responsible for this function. The official invariably approves the report, and this approval is invariably confirmed by the Attorney General. The GSS agents who have filled the function of OCGIC over the past decade have “examined and found” that every complaint submitted was incorrect, or that the interrogators' actions were justified. Accordingly, the Attorney General has granted the GSS agents who took part in these interrogations immunity even from criminal investigations in the complaints, under the guise of “the necessity defense.” Since 2001, over six hundred complaints have been submitted against GSS interrogators suspected of torturing interrogees. All these complaints have been forwarded to the OCGIC for examination. The inspections, reports, and recommendations of the OCGIC, together with the support of his superiors in the Attorney General's Office for these “examinations,” have resulted in a situation in which not a single criminal investigation has been opened by the Police Investigation Department. As will become apparent in this report, with the exception of four cases in which unsubstantiated comments were made concerning the opening of disciplinary proceedings, the Attorney General and the State Attorney's Office effectively grant immunity to interrogators. They do so by relying entirely on the findings of the OCGIC – a GSS agent – without applying any criticism to these findings. I should reiterate that the exemption from criminal liability is granted without a criminal investigation having been opened or pursued in even one of the complaints submitted. The seventh layer of protection, institutionalized with the help of the Knesset, is the GSS Law of 2002. This law ensures, on the one hand, that the GSS agent “will not bear criminal or civil liability for any act or omission committed in good faith and in a reasonable manner in the framework of his function and for the purpose of filling the said function.” On the other hand, and alongside this complete immunity, the law also ensures that all the operating methods and names of GSS interrogators will remain confidential. This legal confidentiality prevents any possibility for the interrogee or their representative to know who conducted the interrogation; who authorized it; and whether the actions taken against the interrogee were in accordance with the working procedures or were even authorized. As noted, it is impossible to identify the interrogator or to secure full written documentation, not to mention a recording of the interrogation, or even of the final confession to the police following the GSS interrogation; just as it is impossible to enable the interrogee to meet and consult with an attorney during the interrogation period; to obtain full medical files; to ensure that the interrogee's representatives or the court have access to a full and precise memorandum describing the course of interrogation; or to ensure that the complaint is examined in an independent and impartial manner. All this is compounded by the full immunity granted to the GSS in accordance with the GSS Law. The reader may now appreciate the privileged position of the GSS interrogators at the core of these onion layers of protection, secure from any criminal investigation or prosecution in Israel.
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Swedish Trade Union Confederation Boycott goods from occupied areas
Savez švedskih sindikata bojkotira izraelske proizvode s okupiranih područja (26. svibanj 2012.)
Savez švedskih sindikata podupire pozive palestinskih sindikata na bojkot izraelskih proizvoda s okupiranih područja, ali trenutno ne zagovara opći bojkot izraelskih proizvoda. Savez je također najavio da će spriječiti ulaganje kapitala koji je pod njegovom kontrolom u izraelske vrijednosnice. Savez švedskih sindikata smatra da su okupacija, zid i kolonistička naselja ključne prepreke uspostavi neovisne, demokratske i slobodne Palestine i podupire poziv švedske Socijaldemokratske partije upućen švedskoj vladi da ustraje u svojoj politici priznavanja Palestine kao članice UN-a. Švedski sindikati poduprli su i poziv na ukidanje blokade Pojasa Gaze i najavili da će od svojih poslodavaca zahtijevati da prekinu poslovati s tvrtkama koje zarađuju novac na ilegalnim kolonističkim naseljima.
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“Family Matters” - Using Family Members to Pressure Detainees Under GSS Interrogation
This report presents six cases of the use of family members against interrogees suspected of security offenses. Some of the cases involve the humiliation of innocent relatives, and using them to inflict psychological suffering on the detainee. The more extreme cases involve torture of the interrogee, who becomes a victim to cruel manipulation along with the degrading use of his innocent family members. Besides being flagrant violations of the prohibition on torture and ill-treatment in international law, most of the cases in this report describe violations of a fundamental principle of every proper legal system: that an innocent person may not be detained for the sole purpose of making him a strategic tool in the interrogation of another person. A prerequisite for detaining a person is the existence of a reasonable suspicion that he has committed an offense. A person's familial relation to a detainee cannot lawfully be grounds for detention, particularly when the latter detention is nothing more than a scheme to assist in the original detainee's interrogation. Such an act constitutes the forced recruitment of an individual in a battle against his relative. Not only does it turn a human being into a means, it turns him into a means aimed at achieving a goal counter to his deepest desires. It infringes the individual's dignity as an autonomous being, his sensibilities as a family member, and his liberty as an innocent person.
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UK student leaders condemn anti-Palestinian policy at Israeli college
Studentski vođe u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu osudili protupalestinsku politiku na izraelskom fakultetu (9. svibanj 2012.)
Više od 100 studentskih vođa u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu potpisalo je izjavu u kojoj osuđuju nedavnu odluku fakulteta Zefat kojom se onemogućuje Palestincima da se kandidiraju na izborima za predsjednika studentskog saveza. Studentski je savez na fakultetu Zefat 18. travnja 2012. odlučio da se za najviše mjesto u savezu mogu kandidirati samo osobe koje su odslužile vojni rok u izraelskoj vojsci. Tom je odlukom onemogućeno kandiranje Palestinaca, jer oni ne služe u izraelskoj vojsci. Ova je odluka tek jedna u nizu diskriminatornih i rasističkih mjera s kojima se posljednjih godina suočavaju palestinski studenti na fakultetu Zefat - uključujući rabinski dekret kojim se židovskim stanovnicima Safeda savjetovalo da ne iznajmljuju kuće Palestincima, nasilne napade protiv palestinskih studenata i paljenje njihovih automobila. Britanski Nacionalni savez studenata također je ranije ove godine podržao dezinvestiranje iz tvrtki koje suučestvuju u izraelskoj okupaciji.
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Israel should be excluded from Olympic unions and committees, head of the Palestinian Football Association says
Predsjednik Palestinskog nogometnog saveza pozvao na isključenje Izraela iz olimpijskih saveza i odbora (17. svibanj 2012.)
Jibril Rajoub, predsjednik Palestinskog nogometnog saveza, pozvao je 17. svibnja 2012. na izbacivanje Izraela iz međunarodnih olimpijskih saveza i odbora sve dok ta zemlja ne „ispoštuje međunarodne sporazume“. Rajoub je izrazio žestoko protivljenje bilo kakvom obliku „normalizacije“ odnosa s Izraelom, osobito na području sporta, te dodao da je sport na palestinskom području „jedna od metoda pružanja otpora“ Izraelu. Pozvao je predstavnike arapskih medija i arapske sportaše da posjete palestinsko područje.
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Minister abandons Israel visit
Južnoafrički ministar otkazao posjet Izraelu (15. svibanj 2012.)
Južnoafrički ministar poljoprivrede Gerrit van Rensburg odustao je od svog posjeta Izraelu nakon što su mu iz ministarstva za međunarodne odnose i suradnju poručili da posjete vladinih dužnosnika toj zemlji treba svesti na minimum. Južnoafrička vlada izbjegava kontakte s Izraelom na visokoj razini zbog izraelske okupacije i širenja kolonističkih naselja na Zapadnoj obali, uključujući istočni Jeruzalem.
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DODATNO:
HRVATSKA:
Zločin i naplata
Milenko Đapa jedan je od stotine Siščana koji su zbog pripadnosti srpskoj nacionalnosti ubijeni tijekom 1991. i 1992. godine. Imena i adrese većine ubijenih ranije su objavljeni u Slobodnom tjedniku, gdje su atribuirani kao "četnički simpatizeri". Uskoro nakon objave, jedan dio ljudi s tog popisa odveden je u lječilište Jodno, barake nekadašnjeg sisačkog naselja Omladinskih radnih akcija, barutanu i dom na Odri, te je spaljen u pećima željezare Sisak ili ubijen i bačen u Savu. Iako su šutnju o počinjenim zločinima konstantno prekidali mediji, koji su u drugoj polovici devedesetih počeli objavljivati pokajničke ispovijesti svjedoka egzekucija, a koji su za odgovornost otvoreno prozivali čitav tadašnji politički vrh, većina zločina još uvijek nije procesuirana.
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CATASTROIKA - Multilingual Subtitles (Full) (video)
