Adalah and ACRI: The Shabak is Trying to Sow Fear among Anti-Prawer Plan Activists

In an urgent letter  sent on Thursday, 26 November 2013 to the Chief of the Israeli Police, Yohanan Danino, and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) demanded their urgent intervention to bring an end to the interrogation of political activists involved in the protest movement against the Prawer Plan. The organizations stated that the Shabak (or Shin Bet, the Israeli General Security Services) was sending openly threatening letters in which it informed activists that they had been identified as targets.

The letter was sent by Adalah Attorney Nadeem Shehadeh and ACRI Attorney Lila Margalit following a series of summons and interrogations of activists by the Shabak, particularly against individuals involved in organizing anti-Prawer demonstrations. The Shabak stepped up the interrogations on the eve of Saturday’s [30 November] demonstrations in Haifa and Hura in the Naqab/Negev.

As Adalah and ACRI argued, the interrogations are aimed at intimidating the activists and deterring them from participating in protest activities. “The sharp rise in the number of complaints filed by activists following their interrogations gives a disturbing picture of the Shabak’s blatant attempts to sow fear among the young people who are exercising their right to protest against dangerous government policies and expressing their opinion on the eve of the Knesset’s vote on the Prawer Plan, in order to prevent them from engaging in civil political activity.”

The two organizations brought a large number of examples of individuals who have been summoned for interrogation, as well as of the methods with which they were interrogated, and their ‘talks’ with the police and the Shabak. In their interrogations, the young activists faced questions about their political activities and their personal lives. In some cases the interrogators threatened the activists, warning them that their participation in the demonstrations could jeopardize their academic careers and future employment prospects.

The letter concluded by stating that, “These dangerous practices are at odds with the duty of the police to guarantee the freedoms of expression and protest in a democratic state. They seek to delegitimize the activists and their status as citizens in a democratic state, and send out a clear message that anyone who takes part in the protests will be a target.”