Report By Adalah (The Legal Center For Arab Minority Rights In Israel): 06/01/2022: In response to the organizations’ demand, the Military Attorney replied that the “core of the designations” is based on classified material that would remain secret.
Following the demand of the six Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations that Israel designated as “terrorist organizations”, the Military Attorney responded this week that it would allow the groups to review only the unclassified information that underlies the bases of the designations. The military stated in its response that “the core of the declarations is based on classified, cross-checked and reliable intelligence information that cannot be disclosed” as it may harm national security. According to the Military Attorney, these confidential materials indicate that the organizations “are in fact an arm of a terrorist organization.”
This response indicates that the organizations will not be provided with the evidence directed against them, and thus, they are afforded no due process rights. This response also reinforces the organization’s argument that the Israeli authorities have no evidence linking them with illegal acts and that this move amounts to the political persecution of human rights defenders.
CLICK HERE to read the response from the Military Attorney [English Translation]
CLICK HERE to read the response from the Military Attorney [Hebrew]
On 16 December 2021, the organization’s legal team sent a letter to the military demanding the disclosure of all the evidence that forms the basis for the designations. In its response, the Military Attorney’s office added that the military commander had extended the deadline for submitting an appeal against declaring them “unlawful associations” until 18 January 2022.
CLICK HERE to read Adalah’s letter [English Translation]
CLICK HERE to read Adalah’s letter [Hebrew]
In response, Adalah stated:
“The Israeli security apparatus has declared in its response, that the process, by which it outlaws human rights and civil society organizations, is entirely based on secret material, and thus, these groups do not have any possibility to defend themselves. There is no stronger evidence that this persecution contradicts all basic principles of due process and fairness and is carried out by means that characterize repressive authoritarian regimes.
___
Background
On 19 October 2021, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz designated six leading Palestinian human rights and civil society groups as “terrorist organizations” under Israel’s domestic Counterterrorism (Anti-Terror) Law (2016). The six groups are Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC). The Israeli military commander also outlawed all six groups under the 1945 Emergency (Defense) Regulations, declaring them “unlawful associations”.
The six organizations are currently represented by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Attorney Michael Sfard, and Attorney Avigdor Feldman.
