Overview of Human Rights in Israel

The State of Israel is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Israel’s human rights record has often been criticized by certain groups due to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  According to reports by human rights groups, many human rights abuses have been committed by both sides in this regards, including the needless deaths of civilians.  While the government of Israel works to respect the civil and human rights of its citizens, there are a host of enduring challenges.

Human rights groups have said that Israel's security forces have been responsible for serious abuses, such as torture and beatings against Palestinian detainees in their custody. Detention and prison conditions for these detainees do not meet international standards either. There is insufficient living space, food and access to medical care. During the year, thousands of people, mainly Palestinians, are detained without charges indefinitely.  According to report, most members of the security forces, police, and army commit abuses with impunity. Extra-judicial killings, disappearances, and torture, and lack of respect for civilians during military operations, are some of the allegations against Israel's security forces.  

The killing of international aid and humanitarian workers in Palestinian areas, at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), has been an enduring source of consternation.  The IDF has claimed that it was carrying out routine operations while opponents accused the IDF of willful violation of basic human rights. 

In Israel, there are reports of discrimination against Arabs -- even those who are citizens of Israel.  In actuality, Israel has some discriminatory laws and policies that may be applied mostly on the basis of ethnic or national origin. That is to say, in June 2006, the Israeli High Court upheld the Knesset's legislation prohibiting Palestinian spouses  from the West Bank and Gaza, who are married to Israeli citizens (generally Arab-Palestinian Israelis), from being reunited with their counterparts in Israel.  As well, Israel has placed a halt on family reunifications, essentially compelling thousands of married couples and their offspring to decide whether to live apart, or to live within Israel illegally.  There is also a prevailing discriminatory ban on Palestinian students from West Bank and Gaza seeking to pursue higher education in Israel.   These measures have been implemented primarily for security reasons in a country plagued by terrorism at the hands of Palestinian militants.

Institutional discrimination is also manifest in the arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement imposed by Israel on Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  In recent years, the United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported 540 physical closure obstacles, often resulting in deleterious socio-economic effects for those dependent on transport, or exports and imports for their livelihoods. This has included Israel's prohibition of fishing off the coast, imposed on Palestinian fishermen in Gaza.  Again, these measures have been implemented primarily for security reasons in a country plagued by terrorism at the hands of Palestinian militants.

Along that vein, terrorism by Palestinians against Israelis has been a serious threat to security and has resulted in the deaths and injuries to many citizens. In August and September 2005, Israel unilaterally removed all of its civilians and military personnel from all its settlements in the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the West Bank as part of its disengagement plan. Israel hopes that withdrawing from this area will reduce Palestinian attacks on Jewish citizens. Palestinian armed groups, however, have killed some hundreds of Israelis -- mostly civilians -- in suicide bombings, shootings and mortar attacks.  Clearly, these terror attacks by Palestinian on Israeli civilians serve to continue to cycle of abuse and violence.   Such terrorism has been cited as being the primary reason for the construction of a wall separating Israeli territory from portions of the West Bank.  But Palestinians have accused Israel of using this rationale as an obfuscation of the real motive for the wall -- further annexation of Palestinian areas.

Meanwhile, Palestinians have not only attacked Israelis, but also fellow Palestinians in a de facto civil conflict between the opposing leadership factions of Hamas and Fatah in recent times.   Both sides have carried out brutal attacks against one another, albeit in a rather indiscriminate fashion, and with many street clashes resulting in casualties among bystanders.   

At the same time, violence against women by fellow Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza has taken place on a pervasive basis. In fact, laws against such violence are weak, preference men over women, and ultimately, allegations of crimes against women are not prosecuted with much zeal.  For example, rapists are relieved of their criminal accountability of they agree to marry their victims.

On July 12, 2006 the Lebanon-based organization Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a border raid from Southern Lebanon into Israel. Israel responded with military action and the violence continued to escalate on both sides, culminating in what is now known as the Israeli-Hezbollah war of 2006. It is estimated that over 1500 people, mostly civilians, died due to this conflict.  More than 4,000 people were injured and close to a million people -- mostly in Lebanon -- were displaced. A United Nations brokered cease-fire theoretically ended the hostilities between the two sides.

Both Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have been cited for gross human rights violations during that period.  On the Israeli side, human rights groups and international agencies have noted that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) violated to laws of war by failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets.  Israel's use of cluster munitions -- most of which were used in the last three days before the cease-fire and resulted in death and destruction  -- has also been a source of grave concern and criticism. On the other side of the equation, Hezbollah used unguided surface-to-surface missiles to repeatedly launch thousands of rockets indiscriminately into northern Israel.  Many of these rockets were packed with more than 4,000 anti-personnel steel spheres or “ball bearings,” which explode on impact, thus ensuring maximum carnage.   As well, Hezbollah fired cluster rockets containing both explosive submunitions and steel spheres.  As was the case for Israel, Hezbollah was also accused of violating the laws of war by failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets. 

Human Development Index (HDI) Rank:

23rd out of 177

Note: Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index that measures the level of well-being of nations in the world. It uses factors such as poverty, literacy, life-expectancy, education, gross domestic product, and purchasing power parity to assess the average achievements in each nation. It has been used in the United Nation’s Human Development Report since 1993.