Dear friends,

I hope that you and your family are staying safe in these terrible times. Despite the uncertainty around further escalation in our region, HaMoked persists in its daily work to safeguard human rights.

So much of our work involves using domestic Israeli mechanisms to pursue accountability for human rights violations. As I have often written, this can be extremely frustrating work. So we are closely following recent developments regarding various international accountability mechanisms.

Last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an Advisory Opinion on the legality of the Israeli occupation. The Court declared numerous policies and practices of Israel to be illegal under international law, including the route of the Separation Wall; the tenuous residency status given to Palestinians in East Jerusalem; and the practice of punitive home demolitions — to name a few issues at the core of HaMoked’s work.

It may take some time until we see the effects of this very significant opinion. Meanwhile, the ICJ is proceeding with South Africa’s case alleging Israel’s failure to prevent and punish genocide in its war on Hamas. And the International Criminal Court is expected to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister imminently. It is terrible that we have reached this point, of Israeli actors accused of the gravest crimes by the most important international tribunals. But I do see a silver lining: it seems that these proceedings are having a positive effect on the Israeli legal system’s treatment of human rights violations.

While last fall, the High Court of Justice dismissed many of our petitions concerning treatment of Palestinian detainees, today the Court is taking such petitions more seriously. In several of our recent cases, the Court has held lengthy hearings and demanded the State provide answers. And after months of reports of horrific abuse at the Sde Teiman detention facility, last week, Israeli military police arrested nine soldiers in a criminal investigation into the torture of one detainee there.

Many dismiss these measures as mere window dressing – of course the problem at Sde Teiman cannot be fixed by punishing a few soldiers. Our petition to close Sde Teiman is one of those currently under discussion at the High Court.

The international legal system is based on complementarity; the ICJ and ICC proceedings (as well as the sanctions that several states have imposed on violent settlers) result from the failure of domestic Israeli legal systems. It is too early to say whether recent Israeli efforts will lead to genuine accountability. But it will be an example of complementarity operating at its best if these international proceedings in turn push Israel to take genuine measures to halt violations of human rights and hold violators accountable. This is what we at HaMoked are working for.     

Wishing us all a quiet week, and hoping fervently for rapid conclusion of a ceasefire-hostage deal.

Sincerely,

Jessica Montell
Executive Director of HaMoked