The Long Arm of the Law as a Mechanism of Darkness

Editorial, haaretz.com

Image from article, with caption: Breaking the Silence activists protest against the occupation in Tel Aviv, in March 2016

Excerpt:

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has asked Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to investigate the spokesman of Breaking the Silence, Dean Issacharoff, who claimed that he had beaten an Arab prisoner in front of his soldiers during his army service in Hebron. Shaked’s demand is clearly political in nature. Her purpose is to investigate an organization against which she is waging an ideological campaign. As a politician she is permitted to demand the activation of the judicial and investigative apparatus against her political rivals, but as justice minister she is crossing a red line and is undermining the rule of law. ...

Shaked’s demand seeks to create a deterrent effect that will silence critics. Even if Issacharoff is not prosecuted for publicizing his action, the rest of those special individuals who get up the courage to talk about what they did in the army will learn that at some point they too could be investigated and perhaps punished. Thus Shaked hopes to gradually silence one of the few sources that independently report on the Israel Defense Forces’ conduct in the territories, whose version of events is not dictated by special interests or public diplomacy considerations. ...