Human Rights

In the last two years, following requests from Holocaust survivors and their families, attorneys from the Legal Forum have been acting within the Knesset and the government to correct injustices in the treatment of Holocaust survivors. After much effort by the Forum and other sources, this week the government approved a budget increase of 1 billion NIS per year for Holocaust survivors, with the understanding that the 200,000 survivors living in Israel today have limited time left.

On September 21 2013, IDF sergeant Tomer Hazan was murdered by Nadal Amar. The murderer worked with Tomer at a restaurant in Bat Yam and had entered Israel illegally. The murderer lured Tomer to come with him to his village and subsequently murdered him on the way.

Recently there have been serious disturbances and riots in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is surprising how well timed these riots are, as it seems that every time a riot takes place, the electricity is cut off in the streets where the riots are taking place, so that the cameras installed in these areas stop functioning. Even if some cameras do continue to film, their effectiveness decreases because the streets are dark and nothing is visible.

Last Thursday police officers armed with a Taser gun stormed into the home of Boaz Albert, a resident of Yitzhar. Albert was arrested for violating an administrative restraining order issued by the IDF which mandated him from returning to Judea and Samaria for 18 months, even though his home is in Samaria.

The police officers who entered his home used disproportionate force against Albert and shocked him several times despite him not being violent in any way, nor endangering the four police officers who had come to arrest him.

The Legal Forum for Israel mourns the passing of Supreme Court Judge (ret) Edmund Levy z"l.

Judge Levy was clear voice which would not bow down to the majority in the Supreme Court. Levy will always be remembered for his brave stance in the protection of the human rights of the residents of Gush Katif even as a heavy-handed government decided to uproot them. Judge Levy represented a minority opinion criticizing the government's decision, claiming it was unconstitutional.