If So, Benny Gantz, I’m a Proud Terrorist
Moria Shlomot, a lawyer, is the executive director of Parents Against Child Detention.
Like many people in Israel and abroad, and like the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, I was shocked by Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s declaration designating six Palestinian civil society NGOs– unquestionably human rights organizations – as terrorist organizations.
Among these “terrorist organizations,” according to the defense minister, are Al-Haq, an award-winning human rights organization with a high profile international reputation; the Palestinian branch of Defense for Children International, which protects the rights of Palestinian minors ; and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, which defends Palestinian security prisoners and detainees held in both Israeli and Palestinian prisons and detention centers.
I am glad to say that these important and valuable organizations have many supporters. I hope that many people feel, as I do, that this move was one step too far even for those who prefer to take a forgiving approach toward the actions of Israel’s new “government of change.”
I have firsthand knowledge of DCIP’s important and meaningful work, and especially its concern for the welfare of children who have been arrested by Israel, namely, representing them before the military prosecution, supporting them during legal proceedings, and providing direct and indirect aid after their release from detention in Israeli prisons.
That is why I believe that designating this almost-holy NGO as a terrorist organization is like declaring Israel’s National Council for the Child to be a branch of Al Qaida, or claiming that it’s dark outside at noon – an intolerable and unforgivable madness.
According to the small amount of disclosed materials on which the declaration relies in designating Defense for Children International-Palestine as a terrorist organization, it was argued that the organization leads the campaign to accuse Israel of mistreating detained Palestinian minors. Well, the fact is that Israel does mistreat detained Palestinian minors.
Thousands of Palestinian minors are detained every year using techniques and methods any one of which constitutes a fundamental violation of their rights (from breaking into their homes in the middle of the night to handcuffing them, blindfolding them, denying them legal advice before they are questioned and all the way to threats, humiliation and the use of violence during interrogations).
Suite et source
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