Moderate Torture on Trial: Critical Reflections on the Israeli Supreme Court Judgement concerning the Legality of General Security Service Interrogation Methods

Abstract

On September 6, 1999, the Supreme Court of Israel, sitting as the High Court of Justice ("HCJ"), 2 ruled on a governmental policy that has long been the subject of intense international criticism: Israel's use of torture on Palestinian detainees interrogated by its secret police, the General Security Service ("GSS"). 3 Since a 1987 governmental commission recommended that the GSS employ "moderate physical and psychological pressure" on Palestinians suspected of "security" offenses, the use of interrogation methods amounting to