PCATI Annual Report 2023
Introduction
2023 was a challenging year for human rights work in Israel in general, and for the fight against torture in particular. The ultra-right-wing Israeli government introduced a range of legislation and attempts to dismantle democratic safeguards and standards by its ‘judicial reform’. These attempts and the anti-democratic rhetoric, especially by extreme right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, continue well into 2024. Human rights of Palestinians in the oPt, specifically those held in Israeli prisons, were further compromised, including by the National Security Minister, who vowed to aggravate the conditions for Palestinian security prisoners and from early 2023 on introduced a range of hostile and radical policies that violate prisoners’ rights. Finally, the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7th, 2023, which included the killing of 1200 civilians and soldiers, multiple acts of torture and ill-treatment, and the taking of hundreds of hostages, and the devastating war on Gaza that followed – shook the world around us. The Israeli tragedy, which triggered emotions of fear, hatred and vengeance, coupled with inciting and de-humanizing rhetoric against Palestinians by far-right leaders, and a pre-existing culture of immunity for perpetrators of torture – paved the way for a human rights crisis in Israeli prisons and detention sites unprecedented in scale and gravity.