Collective punishment

Israeli forces search for the attacker around the scene of a shooting at a bar on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, April 7, 2022. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

Israel’s false promise of security

Those devising punishments for Palestinians after attacks in Israeli cities offer nothing but a violent ritual in which despair and rage are the order of the day.

By Edo Konrad April 10, 2022

Israeli soldiers are seen enforcing the closure of Palestinian-owned stores in Hebron's Old City, occupied West Bank, Jan. 29, 2022. (Basil al-Adraa)

Israeli soldiers force closure of Palestinian stores in Hebron’s Old City

After settlers attacked Palestinian store owners, the Israeli army punished the Palestinians by shutting their businesses for nearly a week.

By Basel Adra February 3, 2022

Israeli soldiers operate a checkpoint at the entrance to the Palestinian village of Dir Nizam, occupied West Bank, January 11, 2021. (Rachel Shor)

‘We’re here to pressure the village’: Israeli troops admit collective punishment policy

The Israeli army has subjected Dir Nizam to near-total closures and violent incursions since December. And soldiers are frank about why they're doing it.

By Yuval Abraham January 24, 2022

Latest

Members of the Palestinian security forces enforce a full lockdown for 48 hours following the spread the of the coronavirus, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, August 25, 2020. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Human rights groups demand Israel allow fuel into COVID-struck Gaza

NGOs petition High Court to force Israel to open Gaza to fuel and other basic goods, after Israel closed its central commercial crossing in August.

By Orly Noy August 31, 2020

Palestinian women mourn during the funeral of Hadeel Awwad in Qalandiya refugee camp, December 18, 2015 (Activestills.org). Israel had held onto Hadeel's body for almost a month.

Palestinian families fight for relatives’ remains held by Israel

A recent Supreme Court ruling has rubber-stamped Israel's policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians killed by its security forces.

By Miriam Deprez November 4, 2019

Israeli soldiers take position during protests in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the West Bank city of Nablus on February 1, 2019. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Israeli soldiers critically wound Palestinian child in Qaddum protests

Israeli soldiers fire live ammunition at anti-occupation protesters in Kufr Qaddum, critically wounding a 10-year-old child. By +972 Magazine Staff A 10-year-old Palestinian child is in critical condition after Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition at an anti-occupation protest in Kufr Qaddum on Friday. Abdul Rahman Yaser Shtewi was shot in the head with a live…

By +972 Magazine July 12, 2019

Former President of Israel's Supreme Court Aharon Barak. (פרס א.מ.ת/CC BY-SA 3.0)

The man who helped build Israel’s legal infrastructure of oppression

Aharon Barak says he is concerned about Israeli democracy, but he bears responsibility for no small part of where the country is today. By Hagai El-Ad Former Chief Justice Aharon Barak is completely at peace with his ruling on targeted assassinations. On a recent episode of an Israeli investigative TV program, he went so far…

By +972 Magazine July 4, 2019

A Palestinian worker waits to cross Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and East Jerusalem, during the early hours of February 25, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Forget BDS: Denied entry to Israel, just because of a last name

Over the past two years, the Israeli army has revoked Palestinian workers’ permits to enter Israel simply because they share a last name with someone who carried out a violent attack against Israelis. The move has already dealt a severe blow to over 2,000 workers in the West Bank, many of whom have been working inside Israel…

By Social TV September 26, 2018

A truck is seen at the Israeli army controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the only commercial crossing where goods can enter and exit Gaza, March 22, 2018. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The Gaza siege isn’t about security. It’s collective punishment, pure and simple

Israel shut down Gaza’s ability to conduct trade because of flaming balloons and kites that Palestinians have been floating over the border. There is no security justification, just collective punishment. Israeli authorities often claim that the siege on Gaza is about security. Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups must not be allowed to import weapons…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man July 10, 2018

Palestinian workers squeeze themselves to pass through the Israeli checkpoint of Bethlehem while heading to their work in Israeli cities, Bethlehem, West Bank, March 19, 2017. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

Shin Bet: Lose your job if your kid throws stones

Israel’s security service publishes notices in the Palestinian village of Beit Omar threatening to revoke work permits from families whose children are suspected of stone throwing. By Yali (Yael) Marom Residents of the Palestinian village Beit Omar in the West Bank discovered last week that the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, had posted threatening notices on…

By Yali (Yael) Marom January 4, 2018

Palestinians from the village of Beita hold Friday prayers at an Israeli military roadblock in protest of the collective punishment, September 23, 2016. (Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Palestinians hold pray-in to protest road closures

Palestinian residents of a village cut off by Israeli military closures hold prayer services at the roadblock to protest. Photos and text : Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills Tens of Palestinian residents of the village of Betia, south of Nablus, moved their Friday noon prayer from mosques to in front of Israeli dirt mounds that block…

By Activestills September 25, 2016

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian man following a house raid in the West Bank city of Hebron September 20, 2016. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

A ‘wave of violence’ that never actually ends

When the Israeli media talks about the latest ‘wave of violence,’ it leaves out the five unarmed Palestinians who were shot to death by soldiers and police officers in the past few months. The newspaper headlines over the past few days leave no room for doubt regarding what has been happening here lately. “Terror returns,”…

By Haggai Matar September 20, 2016

And Israel border policeman outside the Abu Khdeir home in Shuafat, East Jerusalem Sept. 7, 2014 (Photo: Tamar Fleishman)

Yes, Israel does differentiate between Jewish and Palestinian terror

When Palestinians demand their attackers receive the same punishments as those who target Jews, the pretense of equal treatment before the law slips away. Some of Israel’s most hardline politicians are fond of saying that they don’t differentiate between terror attacks perpetrated by Jews and Palestinians. In the wake of the Duma arson that killed three…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland September 14, 2016