Legislating Impunity

Israel's Ministry of Justice has drafted a law that would exempt the State of Israel and its security forces from tort liability for the wrongful bodily injury and killing of Palestinians during the period of the intifada. Human Rights Watch calls for the withdrawal of the draft because it would drastically curtail the right of victims of human rights abuses committed by state agents to seek and obtain compensation. And by stripping Israeli civil courts of jurisdiction over these complaints, it would weaken one of the few existing mechanisms for accountability for the conduct of Israeli security forces toward Palestinians, and remove a deterrent against the commission of abuses in the future.