For many years, the Shin Bet would obtain information from those suspected of involvement in Palestinian terrorism by means of some level of violence. There was also a special ministerial committee, which authorized the use of force for specific suspects, although according to international law the use of torture in interrogation is forbidden. Period.
As minister of justice I was supposed to take part in that committee. A senior Shin Bet official would come before the committee, explain why in certain cases there is “no choice” but to use violence, and the few ministers who were members of this committee voted. I was surprised to see that in the first committee meeting I attended I was the only person opposed to these authorizations, and there was no relevance to the party affiliation of the ministers voting. All of them authorized all the requests.
