The United Nations Committee against torture recently condemned Israel’s methods of questioning terrorism suspects, which often involve, among other things, forcefully shaking detainees, the use of painful restraints, and sleep deprivation. Defenders of Israel’s methods counter that over the past four years more than 200 Israelis have been killed by terrorists. They also contend that in the last two years, Israel’s secret service, the Shin Bet, has prevented ninety planned terrorist attacks, often through the use of what the Shin Bet terms, “moderate physical pressure” in questioning suspects. Furthermore, the defenders of Israel’s methods note that Israel lives in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls, “a very tough neighborhood,” in which its adversaries often go much further than Israel in applying force to detainees.
Is the use of physical force when questioning individuals suspected of terrorist activity justified under the kinds of conditions that currently exist in Israel? If so, why? If not, why not?
Opinion
I think that the methods used by Israelis are justified under the present circumstances.
Assumptions
1. That many innocent persons are being tortured. Most of the suspects would indeed be terrorists. If any innocent is caught by chance, he may be tortured severely but still the situation is far better than having lenient torturing methods and not being able to prevent many terrorist strikes.
Supporting Arguments
1. Having tough questioning methods is necessary to get information out of terrorists. A terrorist is fiercely determined to fulfill his/her mission and lenient torturing methods may not be enough.
2. If any innocent is caught by chance then he may be tortured severely but ultimately if he dosen’t divulge any information he would have to be freed but that dosen’t justify having lenient questioning methods and end up not getting information that could otherwise be divulged by severe methods of questioning. The consequences would be much more serious in the latter case.
3. When you have to choose between two devils, choose the lesser devil. Having a few innocents tortured is certainly a lesser evil than facing many terrorist strikes.
4. The fact that the secret service has prevented 90 terrorist strikes is a proof to the fact that strict questioning methods are effective.
Counter Arguments
1. Won’t the innocents wrongly tortured breed discontent to an extent that it may breed more terrorists than it is killing ?
Such a situation may arise, no doubt about that. It is the responsibility of the Israeli secret service to ensure that such people are treated fairly afterwards.
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