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. 

I declared that I wouldn’t participate in this committee’s meetings because its very existence is illegal, and to my great joy it was disbanded a short time later. Not because of me but because of the famous High Court decision that outlawed the torture of interrogatees in September 1999.  Once torture was forbidden the ministerial committee was disbanded. 

Following the terrible damage done to Samer Arbid, who was hospitalized Sept. 28 after a violent interrogation, and who is suspected of heading the terror cell that caused the murder of Rina Shnerb near the West Bank Dolev settlement, I recall what happened 20 years ago. According to all indications, these events have not succeeded in decisively ending violent interrogations by the Shin Bet.