High Court Judges to the Military Advocate: Reevaluate  the enditment charges in the Na'alin case

High Court of Justice, 28 September 2008:  In a hearing held today regarding the petition  in the matter of Ashraf Abu Rahma, [shot by IDF soldiers in Ni'lin while handcuffed and blindfolded] submitted by the victim and four human rights organizations, B'Tselem, The Association for Civil Rights in  Israel, The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and Yesh Din, the three judge panel harshly criticized the Military Advocate General's  (MAG) decision, [to prosecute the perpetrators only for "unbecoming conduct,"] stating that the decision does not send the appropriate message.

The Justices gave the MAG forty days to reconsider his decision.

To the Full story   to the petition (in Hebrew)  

To the press release in Arabic

Demand to open a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the death of Qassem Mughrabi at the motor vehicle collision  incident  in Jerusalem

PCATI wrote  Aharon Franko, Police Commissioner of the District of Jerusalem, demanding that he open a criminal investigation into the killing of Qassem Mughrabi, the driver involved  in the motor vehicle collision  incident in the Zahal Square in Jerusalem on 22 September 2008.

In its appeal, PCATI stated that although there were uncertainties as to whether this incident was a terror attack, it was immediately categorized as such, even before the investigation into the circumstances of the event was concluded. PCATI raised the need to complete the investigation concerning the necessity of shooting Mughrabi with the intent to kill because, from reports in the media, it appears that no attempt was made to arrest him and in view of the fact that he was shot after crashing against a wall. Because the person responsible for the shooting is an army officer, a similar letter was also sent to the Chief Military Attorney's office.

Opinion:"Refraining from the investigation of torture and war crimes in Israel is immoral, illegal and irresponsible"
by Yoav Loeff, PCATI's Coordinator of Public Engagement

On Friday, 3 October 2008, a prominent article was published in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper stating that Israel has appealed to Spain requesting that it does not issue arrest warrants against senior Israeli personnel who were involved in 2002 in the assassination in the Gaza Strip of a senior member of the Hamas, Salah Shehadeh. In addition to Shehadeh, fourteen Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and dozens were wounded following the dropping of a one-ton bomb on a building in the heart of a residential neighborhood. Spanish attorneys who represent the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Gaza (PCHR), demanded that a Madrid Court issue arrest warrants against Israelis who were involved in the decision to carry out the operation. Among these are former Minister of Defense, Benyamin Ben Eliezer, former head of the General Security Service (GSS), Avi Dichter, former IDF Commander in Chief, Moshe Yaalon, Dan Halutz, Commander of the Air force at the time and other senior officers, and others.

PCATI launches its website in Arabic

PCATI launched its website in Arabic hoping to expose members of the Arabic speaking public, particularly in Israel and the Occupied Territories, to PCATI's work.

The website, still in the process of work, includes vast information on PCATI's activities on torture in Israel and various updates on our work. It is our hope that the Arabic speaking public will benefit from the new websites and we will be happy to receive suggestions for improvements and comments.

PCATI's website in Hebrew and English was also renovated recently and includes detailed, updated information on a variety of subjects.

The opening of the exhibition will be held on Saturday 25 October 2008, at 19:30, at the Artists House, 9  Elharizi Street, Tel Aviv. The exhibition "Silence over the Abyss" was initiated by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) in response to the silence of the Israeli public in the face of oppression. The curators of the exhibition are artists David Reeb and Miki Kretsman, and Ishai Menuchin, Executive Director of PCATI.

Most of the works of art were created specifically for this project by Activestills, Alex Levac, Avi Mograbi, David Tartakover, Dror Feiler, Gunilla Skold Feiler, Lahav Halevy, Sharif Waked, and Sigalit Landau and present various aspects of the resounding silence of the Israeli public in face of various forms of oppression rampant in Israeli society.

As stated by the curators of the exhibition:
"In our society there is a steady increase of oppression of members of weakened groups -women, minorities, the disabled and those living under the Occupation. Similarily, while our society ignores the cries and the escalated suffering of the oppressed, social responsibility has been reduced to a faint, insincere and ambiguous, non-committal concept…It is our hope that examining and discussing the evil consequences of silence will strengthen our collective commitment to social change.. a different world is possible".

The exhibition's opening will include Dror Feiler's performance "Refuse no.3", and a musical performance by musical artists Zeev Tena, Amir Zoskabitz, Asif Tzahar and Shmil Frankel.

In the framework of the exhibition, open discussions will be held on Fridays (31.10.08, 7.11.08 and 14.11.08) at 11:00, on the limits of personal responsibility of each and every one of us in face of the crimes being committed in our name.

The exhibition will be open through 18 November 2008, Monday-Thursday 10:00-13:00 and 17:00-19:00, Friday 10:00-13:00, Saturday 10:00-13:00.

For additional details please contact:

Yoav Loeff,  PCATI's Coordinator of Public Engagement
Tel: 972-2-6429825/117, 972054-3368434
yoav@stoptorture.org.il 

The first film of the joint PCATI-Social TV project on the defense of civilians is currently being broadcasted. The film is part of a series of short video programs in hebrew that will focus on various aspects of international humanitarian law (IHL).

The following programs will present additional aspects of IHL specifically in relation to the situation in the Occupied Territories: the laws of occupation, laws of war, and torture.

An additional series of films will present a critical look on the way that the official and commercial media reports on events in the Occupied Territories.

The programs may be viewed on PCATI's website, the Social TV website, on the websites of other social change organizations and on video sharing websites. The programs will also be broadcast on the community TV station "M'Kaan", channel 98 on cable and satellite.

Link to the introduction to the series on International Humanitarian Law