The July 2011 issue of IDI’s Terrorism and Democracy Newsletter includes four articles. The first reviews the Supreme Court's decision to affirm a district court decision allowing the continuation of a tort claim brought by senior Hezbollah member Mustafa Dirani for alleged physical and sexual abuses suffered during interrogation by Israeli security officials in 1994. The second article reviews the Nazareth district court’ s decision to overturn a decision allowing the use of video conferencing to broadcast testimonies of witnesses from the Gaza Strip in a tort claim brought against the State of Israel in connection with its counter-terrorism activities. The third article describes the decision of the New York State Supreme Court to retain a civil tort claim brought against the Bank of China by victims of terror attacks that took place in Israel. In the last article, we briefly note the detention of Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, in the United Kingdom prior to his deportation.
IDI’s monthly Terrorism and Democracy Newsletter aims to shed light on some relatively unknown measures and policies adopted by Israel or related to Israel, and to foster discussion on the balance between security interests on one hand, and democratic principles and human rights on the other hand. It surveys recent developments in Israeli law and practices that are intended to reduce or repress terrorist threats. IDI believes that a greater knowledge of Israel's experience in this area may be of value to other societies. We also believe that engaging in international and comparative discourse about Israel's experience is valuable to Israeli society.
Terrorism and Democracy Newsletter: Issue No. 31, July 2011