Children’s Night Arrests: This Is the Latest Israeli Means of Terrorizing Palestinian Families

A new report issued by the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked showed that the Israeli Occupation forces continued, and even exacerbated, during the past year, 2022, the use of night arrests has become the first method to take Palestinian children for interrogation.

The report added that among the 125 pre-planned cases of arrest of Palestinian children documented by HaMoked in 2022, none of the Palestinian families received a summons prior to the night arrest of their child.

The report, entitled On Flimsy Grounds: Israel’s Pervasive Night Arrests of Palestinian Children, concluded that night arrests are used as a first option, even in cases where a child is detained for only a short period of time and then released without charges instructed against him.

 

Children’s Night Arrests

According to the Israeli Human Rights Foundation, the Israeli authorities’ refusal to take substantial measures to curb this unnecessary form of detention leads to the conclusion that it is nothing more than a means of intimidation.

The data is based on requests from 294 families who contacted the HaMoked organization in 2022 to request assistance in locating their minor child after their arrest by the Israeli forces.

Of these, 125 were pre-planned arrests that took place in the middle of the night. In August 2021, the Israeli Occupation Army made an undertaking, in response to the petition submitted by the HaMoked center to the court, against night arrests, in which it committed itself to practice the procedure for summoning suspected minors prior to the pre-planned arrest. However, none of the children were summoned in the 125 cases recorded in 2022.

In addition, the report of the HaMoked organization showed that night arrests are practiced even when these children are suspected of committing minor misdemeanors. To prove this, HaMoked said that from a sample of 58 children arrested between May and October, the vast majority of children (36 children) were released to their homes and families in October and November. No charges were filed against them. HaMoked confirmed that the Israeli authorities detained many children for periods not exceeding a few days, and in some cases for a few hours.

 

Terrorizing Palestinian Families

For her part, Jessica Montell, General Director of HaMoked organization, explained that these night arrests of Palestinian children are a very painful experience for all family members, and they not only cause psychological scars for the child who is arrested but also extend to his relatives and siblings who watch him being detained. It is noteworthy that detention is often violent.

She recalled that arrests are usually made by taking children with their hands tied and blindfolded. She noted that the data showed that, in the vast majority of these cases, there was no justification for this violent arrest, but the Israeli army made no effort to bring these boys in for questioning via a subpoena.

The Israeli Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the petition of the HaMoked organization against the night arrests of children in the month of March. This Israeli human rights report concluded that Israeli behavior towards Palestinian children wanted for interrogation constitutes a flagrant violation of its international legal obligations.

It is noteworthy that a previous report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA) said that six Palestinian citizens were killed by the Occupation forces, including a child, and the report entitled Protection of Civilians covered the period from December 6, 2022, until the nineteenth of the same month.

The UN report highlighted the most prominent events of the aforementioned period, where Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a child, during two search and arrest operations in Jenin. On December 8, Israeli forces carried out a pre-dawn search and arrest operation in Jenin city and its refugee camp, during which an exchange of fire took place with Palestinians.

Three Palestinian men were killed, and two others were wounded, one by live ammunition. An ambulance was damaged by fire, allegedly fired by Israeli forces, and three people were arrested. According to the Israeli media, quoting the Israeli army, the three Palestinians were armed and took part in the exchange of fire, a claim denied by eyewitnesses and human rights organizations who said none of the three participated in the clashes.

 

Deteriorating Reputation in the US

In a related context, an American poll showed that 40% of Americans believe that the Israeli forces treats the Palestinians as Nazis, which was considered an indication of the deterioration of Israelis’ reputation in America in the past few years.

The poll, conducted by the ADL Center, revealed a significant and unprecedented increase in rates of hatred of Jews among American citizens, and about 18% expressed their unwillingness to spend time with people who support “Israel.”

The poll showed a significant increase in the number of anti-Israeli American youths, more than the older generations, who still generally have positions in support of “Israel.”

The center, which has been measuring anti-Semitic attitudes among Americans since the early 1960s, conducted a year-long field research examining the literature on prejudice and anti-Semitism, meeting with academic and community leaders, and conducting numerous qualitative interviews.

This survey confirmed that US Jews are more loyal to “Israel” than the United States. While 46% of those surveyed saw that “Israel” is not a pioneer in the field of technology, 24% of them said that it does not make a positive contribution to the world and negatively affects the standards of democracy.