Israel: Human Rights Record

Blog Post: Human Rights Report: Israel: The Record of Human Rights in Israel

When I went on the internet to search for information about human rights in Israel, I wasn’t sure what I would find. As I explained in my last post, admittedly, I do not know much about the issue of human rights, and especially human rights in Israel. While browsing the internet for answers, I came across many organizations that discuss both current and historical events of Israel’s human rights activity. One in particular, B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, focuses primarily on human rights violations that take place in the area of the Occupied Territories. This specific organization works to guarantee that the Israeli government will protect the human rights of its people. B’Tselem often writes reports of different kinds of human rights violations that occur within the Occupied Territories. B’Teselm also works with members of the Knesset to inform them of human rights violations brought on by Israelis. (http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp).

Through my research, I have found that the human rights record of Israel is often times contested by different groups. For example, the article in the New York Daily titled, “Israel's convictions: Its human rights record shows its critics for the hypocrites they are,” explains how Israel has been under the watch of the United Nations for their human rights record. The United Nations Human Rights Council accused Israel of human rights violations. They stated, “The mission finds that the system put in place by Israel ... to deal with serious allegations of wrongdoing by armed forces personnel ... is not effective in addressing the violations and uncovering the truth (www.nydailynews.com/.../2010-10-06_israels_convictions.html)." This quote implies that Israel has violated some human rights, and that the mission is trying to uncover them.

Given Israel’s position in the chaos of Middle Eastern politics, they are often accused of violating the human rights of Palestinians. In an article written by Jennifer Loewenstein, “The State Department’s Human Rights Reports on Israel and the Occupied Territories,” she notes how the State Department’s “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2000: Occupied Territories” disproved of Israel’s human rights record. Here is a direct quote from the report: “Israeli security forces committed numerous serious human rights abuses during the year.... Since the violence began, [September 2000] Israeli security units often used excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators. Israeli security forces sometimes exceeded their rules of engagement, which provide that live fire is only to be used when the lives of soldiers, police, or civilians are in imminent danger. ...Israeli security forces abused Palestinians in detention suspected of security offenses. ... There were numerous credible allegations that police beat persons in detention. Three Palestinian prisoners died in Israeli custody under ambiguous circumstances during the year (http://www.counterpunch.org/loewenstein.html).”
Given all of the multiple opinions regarding the conflict around Israel and Palestine, I am excited to research further the human rights record of Israel to see if I can find any conclusive information, and to see if all of the information I find matches up with each other.