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"A public servant who does one of the following is liable to imprisonment for three years:
-- uses or directs the use of force or violence against a person for the purpose of extorting from him or from anyone in whom he is interested a confession of an offense or information relating to an offense; or
-- threatens any person, or directs any person to be threatened, with injury to his person or property or to the person or property in whom he is interested for the purpose of extorting from him a confession of an offense or any information relating to an offense."
In fact, this law applies solely to Jews, so Palestinians are subjected to systematic torture and abuse, including extended periods of injurious painful shackling. In addition, the Penal Law has a giant loophole "necessary defense" provision allowing "psychological and moderate physical pressure" to obtain evidence in criminal proceedings. It also permits coercive interrogations against "hostile (threats or acts of) terrorist activity" and all expressions of Palestinian nationalism.
Then in 1999, the HCJ ruled that coercive force may be used in "ticking time bomb" cases that can be applied to anyone designated a security threat or terrorist. According to Israeli authorities, all expressions of Palestinian nationalism, activism and resistance against lawless oppression is "terrorism," opening the way for Palestinian detainees to be tortured - defined by international law as war crimes that impose criminal liability on perpetrators, their authorizing superiors, and the state itself.
Israel is a serial violator, so far unaccountable for its grave breaches, yet potentially liable for its actions as well as individuals at all security and political levels engaged in state-sponsored policies that willfully disregard binding international laws.
Under the well-established principle of "universal jurisdiction," any nation may investigate and prosecute foreign nationals for crimes against humanity and war, including torture, cruel and abusive treatment of detainees. In April 1961, Israel applied it against Adolph Eichmann, and so has America against figures like Panama's Manuel Noriega and Liberia's Charles (Chuckie) Taylor. It may only be a matter of time until the "law of averages" catches up with Israeli war criminals. For their victims, it can't come a moment too soon.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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