ACRI Op-Eds
Dostoyevsky In The West Bank – January 31, 2013 (The Daily Beast) by Liza Rozovsky, ACRI Spokesperson for The Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Department
“Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children have been born in the West Bank since the occupation. Decade after decade, new generations of Palestinian children must contend with a legal system for which their welfare is secondary to the perceived risk they represent… If world harmony does not justify a single tear of a child, certainly slogans such a “security considerations” do not justify senseless cruelty to children.”
The anti-democratic shadow over Israel – January 8, 2013 (Haaretz) by Hagai El-Ad, ACRI Executive Director
“Since when does defending human rights have anything to do with trying to make the government look better? … To state the obvious: The existence of a state ideology is inherently inconsistent with democracy. In a democracy, loyalty is not measured against a specific ideology. To be sure, in a democracy, loyalty simply is not measured at all.”
Who Will Heal Israel’s Healthcare System? – January 9, 2013 (Times of Israel) by Tali Nir, ACRI Director of Social Rights
The problems with the healthcare system “are the result of years of budget cuts and the privatization of the health care system. Yet despite these problems, health care is not a major issue on the agenda during election time, even as nurses are striking. It is much more important who is going out with whom and who is sitting with whom. No one argues about the actual content of our lives: about health and housing, about education and our working conditions.”
The Latent Chauvinism Of Lapid’s “Zoabiz” Apology – February 14, 2013 (The Daily Beast) by Rawia Aburabia, ACRI Attorney for The Israel’s Arab Minority Rights Department
“Zoabi is a brave and opinionated Arab woman, who doesn’t walk the path carved out for women in Arab society… She doesn’t speak softly to us, doesn’t put leftovers in the freezer, and doesn’t try to please the mainstream… In today’s superficial political environment, where image is more important than content, it doesn’t matter that Zoabi shares positions with Tibi and many other Arab citizens ofIsrael. Zoabi’s defiance is more annoying to the mainstream because she is a woman.”
When a Palestinian home isn’t really a home – February 20, 2013 (Haaretz) by Tamar Feldman, ACRI Director of The Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Department
“Ignoring the provisions of the Geneva Conventions explicitly prohibiting forcible removal of this population, Israeli authorities continue to claim that they can evacuate a thousand people from eight villages that have been continually inhabited since well before the area was occupied by Israel in 1967 because those villages aren’t really their homes. But if an eviction will make people homeless, where are they now, if not a home?”
Despite Promises, Government Falls Short on Housing Goals – January 17, 2013 (+972) by Gil Gan Mor, ACRI Director of The Right to Housing Program
“Even under its narrowest definition, the right to housing includes a safety net for the most vulnerable members of the population in the form of public housing. In Israel, however, public housing is scant due to two decades of policy in which no new public housing units were added.”
The referee’s role in conflict resolution – February 26, 2013 (Haaretz) by Yonatan Yakir, ACRI Human Rights Education Coordinator
“In an era when Israeli soccer in particular, and the state of Israel in general, is in dire need of moments of human grace, self-criticism and mutual understanding, Shmuelevitch provided, with one sentence, all these ingredients, which are necessary for any conversation that aims to solve a conflict and in any process of building mutual understanding. Despite the fact that his “mistaken” decision was already irreversible, Shmuelevitch chose not to remain entrenched in his “justified” position, even though he had the right to put the player in his place.”
ACRI Presses for Equal and Affordable Housing
Israeli AG Defends Controversial Law on Admissions Panels – January 26, 2012 (Haaretz)
The law, passed last March, allows the use of acceptance committees “to bar residents who do not suit the lifestyle and social fabric of the community” only in communities in the Galilee and the Negev that have fewer than 400 families.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, one of the petitioners against the law, said “The Admissions Committee Law discriminates against and humiliates people whose only crime is a desire to exercise their right to choose where to live.”
Discriminatory Powers? – January 3, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
According to his bill [the Acceptance to Communities Law], which formalized a procedure long established in the country, a five-member committee composed of two residents of the community in question, a representative of the ideological movement to which the community belongs, a member of the local regional council, and a representative of the Jewish Agency or the World Zionist Organization can make decisions regarding who is allowed to live in “communal settlements” with fewer than 400 families in the periphery.
ACRI and its co-petitioner Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel believe that “the type of screening permitted by the law will inevitably lead to discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel, as well as the exclusion of other marginalized groups such as gays, the disabled, single parents and Mizrahi [citizens].”
The state has argued that despite the way [The Affordable Housing Committees Law] is, affordable housing does not fall under the purview of the committees and additional laws are needed.
“The law for national housing committees is a law in every respect, and criteria for cheap rental housing must be formulated from it,” explains attorney Gil Gan-Mor of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, who belongs to the coalition.
ACRI Defends the Freedom of Expression
ACRI Tells Rivlin: Reinstate ‘Leftist’ Researcher – January 7, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
Hagai El-Ad, Executive Director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) on Monday wrote to Knesset Speaker Ruven Rivlin to protest the dismissal of Dr. Gilad Nathan from his position as a researcher at the Knesset Research and Information Center.
According to the ACRI statement, the excuse for Natan’s dismissal was the publication, three years ago, of articles of a political nature that revealed “uncomfortable” findings, such as finding shortcomings in the operation of state institutions, and the baseless accusation of blaming recent high crime rates on refugees from Africa.
Speak Out Against Silencing – February 26, 2013 (Haaretz)
A new report published by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel deals with the widespread use of libel suits and legal threats, including against ordinary citizens who protest or voice criticism. It describes a disturbing reality in which a growing number of people are afraid to participate in the public discourse due to fear of being sued and becoming embroiled in lengthy, expensive legal proceedings.
…Libel suits, or even just the threat that they might be filed, have turned into a tool for silencing people: a real estate company that didn’t like the statements of an expert who posted warnings against it on a website; a contractor from the north who hired and sent a lawyer to threaten a citizen who had complained about him to the Israel Lands Administration…
ACRI: Overzealous Libel Litigation Silences Free Speech – February 26, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
“The Silencer,” a report from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel published on Monday, alleges a phenomenon in which strategic lawsuits are used against public participation (“SLAPP suits”) and activism on local and national issues.
“We are increasingly witnessing libel claims with weak or even outlandish bases, yet which are effective silencing measures against social and environmental activists who speak out on matters of public importance,” according to the author of the report, attorney Avner Pinchuk of ACRI.
What Are the Police Doing on my Facebook Page? – February 18, 2013 (Haaretz)
The leaders of the [2011 social justice] protest were marked by the Israel Police, which put their Facebook pages under surveillance and submitted them as evidence to the court.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel believes that snooping on people’s Facebook pages is a worrisome symptom of the real problem: the way the police perceive the rights of assembly and free expression. Even if the police’s use of Facebook is only a symptom, it’s obvious that it should be dealt with immediately. Laws and regulations guiding the ways in which government authorities behave must adapt to the frequently changing definitions of privacy on social networks.
ACRI Advocates for Negev Bedouin as New Settlement Law is Drafted
Relocation Plan Threatens Israel’s Bedouin Community – January 31, 2013 (Al-Monitor)
Israeli Minister Benny Begin presented his revisions to Israel’s “Law for the Regulation of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev” on Sunday, after months of public consultations with Bedouin citizens and organizations at the behest of the Israeli government.
“The Begin Plan seeks to restrict the Bedouin to a specific area and to implement this policy forcefully,” saidRawia Aburabia, an attorney with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). “If it is carried out in its current format, such steps will uproot dozens of villages and displace tens of thousands of Bedouin residents, dispossessing them from their property and historical right to their lands.”
ACRI Protests Police Brutality against Arabs in East Jerusalem
Changes in Jerusalem Police Brass Bring Crackdown on Arab Residents – February 4, 2013 (Haaretz)
Two weeks ago such an enforcement/punishment operation ended in Issawiya in northJerusalem, and a week ago a new operation started in Silwan. The operations included numerous arrests, roadblocks to inspect vehicles, tax collection, house demolitions, shutting off water, various fines, searches and random checks of identification, and more. Residents said police officers and commanders have admitted to them that in practice it is punishment in response to rock-throwing and other disturbances.
“The new commander set us back five years,” said Nasrin Alian, an attorney with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. “In Niso Shaham’s time things changed for the better, there was less tear gas, fewer rubber bullets and we didn’t see such large enforcement actions. I regret that with the entry of the new district commander the situation changed.”
East Jerusalem Village Residents Claim Harrassment by Israel – February 19, 2013 (Al-Monitor)
Because of Issawiya’s strategic location between the Israeli settlement of French Hill, the Hebrew University and the E-1 corridor that links Jerusalem to the megasettlement of Ma’ale Adumim, Israel has regularly confiscated Issawiya lands.
“There has been an enhanced presence of police special forces — border police, riot police and undercover units — carrying out actions more appropriate for the battlefield than for a residential neighborhood,” wrote attorney Nisreen Alyan in a letter to Jerusalem police chief Yossi Pariente on Jan. 23.
ACRI Defends the Equal Right to Education
No Arab School on My Watch – Israeli Mayor – January 17, 2013 (RT)
The mayor of Israel’s Upper Nazareth has refused to allow an Arab school to be built, defying an Israeli rights group that said the nearly 2,000 Arab children have a “basic right” to education, and that he is denying Arabs a “legitimate existence.”
“Upper Nazareth was founded to make the Galilee Jewish and must preserve this role,” Mayor Shimon Gapso said in a response to the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which submitted the request for the school earlier this month.
ACRI’s request was submitted on January 7; Gapso responded the next day. When contacted by Haaretz, he said that Upper Nazareth must stick to its “mission” of making the Galilee Jewish, and that he stood by “every word” he said.
Upper Nazareth Mayor: No Arab School Here As Long As I Am In Charge – January 17, 2013 (Haaretz)
“The lack of adequate schools infringes on the Arab residents’ right to accessible, available education and on the equality of allocating public and municipal resources,” the parents say in their request, submitted by ACRI attorney Ashraf Elias.
“The Arab children in Upper Nazareth are deprived of free, available formal education in their own town and neighborhoods. This means the local authority and Education Ministry are hardly allocating any resources to the Arab children’s education, compared to the Jewish children’s education,” Elias wrote to Gapso.
Israel Offering Bonuses to Teachers Who Boost Student Enlistment – January 20, 2013 (Christian Science Monitor)
Israel is offering new salary bonuses to high school educators based on criteria including their success in motivating pupils to perform their army service, fueling criticism of alleged militarism in its education system.
Israeli Arab high schools – whose pupils do not go on to serve in the military – will pay a high price for heightened army involvement in the schools and the new funding scheme, says Sharaf Hassan, educational director for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
Israeli Teachers Paid for Military Recruitment – January 21, 2013 (RT)
Those who oppose the pay scheme say that military propaganda comes at the cost of student education.
“Educating to prepare for the army and to encourage enlistment comes at the expense of regular education, which is meant to educate for democracy and citizenship,” Sharaf Hassan, educational director for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel told the Monitor.
ACRI Defends the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers
Fence Seals Egyptian Border – January 14, 2013 (The Australian Jewish News)
Israel completed a 140-mile fence last week, bringing it close to sealing off its border with Egypt.
Some Israeli human rights groups have voiced reservations about the sealing of the border. “Israel’s sovereign right to build a fence along its border does not absolve it of its obligations under international law to make individualized determinations of asylum status for refugees who arrive at its international crossings,”Oded Feller, lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, commented to The AJN.
The Interior Ministry declared Sanait Tesfauneh, an asylum-seeker from Eritrea, a ‘threat to public security’ and placed her in administrative detention after she was suspected of purchasing a forged work permit. Now, several organizations are attempting to challenge the detention system that deprives asylum seekers of their civil liberties.
Ahead of the hearing we requested – on behalf of Hotline for Migrant Workers, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and the Legal Clinic for Immigrants’ Rights at the College of Law and Business – to join the proceedings as amicus curiae.
ACRI Fights the Forced Transfer of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories
Justice Salim Joubran issued a temporary injunction forbidding the state from embarking on “the forced removal of the petitioners and their families”, and gave it 60 days to respond to a petition against former Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s July 2012 decision to expel the residents of the eight villages from their homes in the southern Hebron hills known to the IDF as Firing Zone 918.
A petition against the decision was lodged by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, on behalf of 108 Palestinian residents. ACRI and Lecker originally filed petitions against the eviction of residents in the 12 south Hebron villages in 1999, and a High Court interim order at the time permitted their return.
The Israeli High Court ruling came in response to a petition filed by the Association of Civil Rights (ACRI) in Israel. Israeli High Court Justice Salim Joubran also said that the Israeli state had 60 days to respond to the ACRI petition.
According to an ACRI statement, the petition “asks the defense minister and the commander of Israel Defense Forces activities in the West Bank to explain why the forced transfer of the villagers from their homes cannot be prevented, as well as for an explanation as to why the closed military zone order around the area should not be lifted and their dwellings fully recognized.”
Palestinian Villagers Take IDF to High Court Over Military Drills – January 29, 2013 (Haaretz)
The army has been carrying out training exercises for about a week near three Palestinian villages in south Hebron, in violation of a High Court of Justice order that also forbids the villagers’ eviction from their homes, said local farmers backed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
ACRI on Monday petitioned the High Court on the farmers’ behalf to stop the Israel Defense Forces from “holding drills that could hinder the petitioners and their families in farming their lands, taking their herds to pasture and carrying on with their normal life.”
ACRI Defends Freedom of Expression during Elections
ACRI Protests Banning of Some Parties’ Campaign Ads – January 11, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel on Thursday announced that it has written to the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Elyakim Rubinstein to protest his ban of certain Strong Israel and Balad party election campaign broadcasts.
According to ACRI, under Israeli elections law, during the two weeks preceding the elections, each of the political parties is given access to public radio and television airwaves at designated times to air their political message in a short broadcast.
Supreme Court Allows Otzma LeYisrael and Balad Ads – January 16, 2013 (Israel National News)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a decision by the Central Elections Committee that invalidated the campaign ads of the Balad and Otzma LeYisrael parties.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) filed an appeal to the Supreme Court over the Elections Committee’s censorship of both ads.
High Court Rejects Zoabi’s Appeal Against Knesset – February 14, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
The High Court of Justice is avoiding making a decision on the legality of the last Knesset’s decision to revoke Balad MK Haneen Zoabi’s parliamentary immunity, she and MK Yariv Levin (Likud Beytenu) said on Thursday, after the court dismissed Zoabi’s appeal against the vote.
ACRI and Adalah also said that the court had time to make a decision, as it had heard arguments months before the 18th Knesset was dissolved. “The court could have prevented an illegal and undemocratic step that exemplifies the tyranny of the majority,” Adalah and ACRI said.
Terra Incognita: Free Speech and Managed Democracy – January 23, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
This year has seen an increase in heavyhanded meddling on the part of committee head Justice Rubinstein. It began with his banning of a billboard campaign by Strong Israel. Rubinstein decided that the ad targeted the Arab community in a negative manner and banned the billboards.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s chief legal counsel, Dan Yakir, objected, saying, “To begin with, it [the decision] was taken without the necessary authority, as the law does not grant the chairperson of the Central Elections Committee authority to interfere with the content of billboards.”
ACRI Protests Birth Control Injections Given to Ethiopian Women
Israel Reviews Contraceptive Use for Ethiopian Immigrants – January 28, 2013 (Reuters)
The Health Ministry has ordered doctors to review how they prescribe a birth control drug, after accusations it was being used to control the population of Ethiopian immigrants. Ministry Director-General Roni Gamzu said the decision did not imply he accepted the allegations by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
In a letter to Gamzu two weeks ago, ACRI said “the sweeping use of Depo-Provera among Ethiopian women raises heavy suspicions that we are talking about a deliberate policy to control and monitor fertility among this community.
“The data … points to a paternalistic, haughty and racist attitude that limits considerably the freedom of Ethiopian immigrants to choose the birth control that is medically suitable for them.” ACRI said statistics from a major Israeli health provider showed that it had administered Depo-Provera injections to 5,000 women in 2008, 57 percent of whom were Ethiopian.
State Admits Problematic Birth Control Shots for Ethiopian Women – January 27, 2013 (Haaretz)
Health Minister Director General Prof. Ron Gamzu has instructed the four health maintenance organizations to stop the practice as a matter of course. The ministry and other state agencies had previously denied knowledge or responsibility for the practice, which was first reported five years ago. Gamzu’s letter instructed “all gynecologists in the HMOs not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment.” Gamzu also instructed physicians to avail themselves of translators if need be.
Gamzu’s letter came in response to a letter from Sharona Eliahu-Chai of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, representing several women’s rights and Ethiopian immigrants’ groups. The letter demanded the injections cease immediately and that an investigation be launched into the practice.
Israel has admitted for the first time that it has been giving Ethiopian Jewish immigrants birth-control injections, often without their knowledge or consent.
Sharona Eliahu Chai, a lawyer for the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), said: “Findings from investigations into the use of Depo Provera are extremely worrisome, raising concerns of harmful health policies with racist implications in violation of medical ethics. The Ministry of Health’s director-general was right to act quickly and put forth new guidelines.”
Amid Controversy, Israel Issues New Birth-Control Guidelines – January 28, 2013 (Los Angeles Times)
In a recent letter to the country’s four HMOs reported Sunday, Ron Gamzu, director general of the health ministry, instructed gynecologists against renewing prescriptions in cases where the patient does not fully understand the treatment’s implications.
Ziva Mekonen-Dego, chief executive of the Israel Assn. for Ethiopian Jews, welcomed the ministry’s response but said this was the bare minimum. “We expect the health ministry to take full responsibility for the women,” she said. Together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the organizations demand the ministry assemble a team of health-care professionals and cultural facilitators to supervise the women’s medical and emotional welfare.
Two weeks ago, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) sent a letter to the Health Ministry citing serious suspicions it was conducting “a policy intended to control and monitor fertility” among the Ethiopian community. Furthermore, ACRI said that the data reported in the media indicate an attitude toward the Ethiopian community that is “paternalistic, arrogant and racist” and “severely limits the freedom of Ethiopian women to choose the method of birth control most suitable for themselves.”
Last week, Health Minister Director General Prof. Ron Gamzu wrote to the HMOs that, without “taking a position or determining any facts based on the allegations,” he was instructing doctors not to renew Depo-Provera prescriptions for either Ethiopian women or women of any other nationality “if there is any concern that they do not understand the implications of the treatment.”
ACRI Pushes for Disclosure in Ben Zygier ‘Prisoner X’ Case
Australian Suspected of Mossad Links Dies in Israeli Jail – February 13, 2013 (ABC News)
Investigations by the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program have revealed Ben Zygier, who used the name Ben Alon in Israel, was found hanged in a high-security cell at a prison near Tel Aviv in late 2010
At the time, human rights organisation Association for Civil Rights in Israel criticised the imprisonment and wrote to Israel’s attorney-general.
“It’s alarming that there’s a prisoner being held incommunicado and we know nothing about him,” wrote the association’s chief legal counsel Dan Yakir.
Israel to Investigate Arrest, Death of ‘Prisoner X’ – February 19, 2013 (CNN)
The fate of the man dubbed “Prisoner X” is now the subject of an investigation by Israel’s parliament. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded over the weekend for details to be kept quiet, warning “overexposure of security and intelligence activity” could harmIsrael’s security
Dan Yakir, chief legal council for the Association for Civil Rights inIsrael, sent a letter toIsrael’s Attorney General about the case, criticizing the censorship and calling for the gag order to be scaled back further. “What is far more concerning, of course, is the fact that a man was held in detention under heavy secrecy, and nothing was published about the reason for his arrest or the circumstances surrounding his death,” Yakir wrote.
Israeli Spy Saga Raises Press Freedom Questions (AP) – February 14, 2013 (Yahoo News)
Dan Yakir, the chief legal counsel of the Association for Civil Rights inIsrael, said the prisoner’s rights do not appear to have been violated and he had adequate legal representation, but that “the authorities shot themselves in the foot here by insisting on such an unusual gag order.”
He said that in the balance between the public’s right to know and national security, Israel has always leaned toward protecting security. “Without a doubt, the power is disproportionately on the side of the state and there is a fear that they can take advantage of this power,” Yakir said.
Israel and The Curious Case of Prisoner X – 17 February 2013 (BBC News)
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel wrote to the Deputy Attorney General suggesting it should be possible to safeguard state security while being transparent about any failures.
“There is considerable public interest in information on the investigation into the detainee’s death, and in answers to the following questions: Was it really suicide? Was there negligence in the supervision of the detainee? Has any official body taken responsibility? What steps have been taken to prevent the recurrence of similar events in the future?” it said.
From the moment it learned that an anonymous prisoner was being held in solitary confinement, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel tried unsuccessfully to get the gag order lifted on what became known as the “Prisoner X” case. On Wednesday, the courts finally lifted a gag order on these efforts, offering another tiny glimpse into the case.
On May 16, 2010, ACRI legal adviser Dan Yakir wrote Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to voice concern: “It goes without saying that a situation in which a prisoner or detainee is held in isolation from the outside world, and certainly for any length of time, is extremely dangerous. . . . Secret arrests and trials are unacceptable in a free democratic state,” the letter concluded. “They constitute a real threat to the rule of law and greatly undermine the public’s faith in the legal system.”
Supreme Court Okays ACRI ‘Prisoner X’ Findings – February 20, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday night authorized the Association for Civil Rights in Israel to publicize the details of its motions over the past nearly three years dealing with the case of “Prisoner X,” legal proceedings that had been kept under a gag order until now.
ACRI Defends the Integrity of Israeli NGOs
Groups Spar With NGO Monitor Over Foreign Funding – February 5, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)
The [2011 NGO transparency] law states that a “recipient of support that received a donation from a foreign governmental body will submit [a report], within a week of the end of the quarter in which the donation was received.”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel condemned the law when it was proposed, asserting that “despite claims made by the promoters of this law, as though it is intended to increase transparency – in practice its purpose is to delegitimize and curtail the activities of organizations that receive funds from, among other sources, foreign states.”
TV and Radio Appearances
‘Prisoner X’ Identified – February 20, 2013 (CNN)
DAN YAKIR: The security services have an interest … not to reveal problems that occurred during their operations and this might influence the argument about state security, which in some cases is a pretext to covering up misdeeds.
DAN YAKIR: I hope that this whole affair will be a watershed… I think most of the public unfortunately rely on the security services and think that whatever they need to be secret should be a secret.
More Revelations Over Secrecy Surrounding Prisoner X – February 22, 2013 (ABC News: AM)
One of Israel’s most prominent human rights groups, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, has been allowed to reveal it’s been battling the gag orders for two years, even before the prisoner’s death in a high security jail cell in December 2010.
DAN YAKIR: It was wide sweeping and I’m afraid that the security services might either consciously or unconsciously want to cover up mishaps. And it’s the role of the courts to look into the matter and to allow all the information that will not infringe upon state security to be published.
