The arrest of a senior military figure who allegedly leaked footage purporting to show Palestinian prisoners being abused has shocked Israel and ignited a major political row.
Traditionally Israel’s government and military have considered the existence of an independent judiciary a crucial barrier to international legal tribunals investigating Israel for alleged abuses against Palestinians.
Where there is a robust national legal system willing and able to investigate and prosecute crimes, international courts are less likely to have jurisdiction to intervene.
“Don’t they understand we had no choice? That the only way to address the wave of international legal proceedings is by proving we can investigate ourselves?” the investigative reporter Ronen Bergman quoted the advocate general telling colleagues six weeks ago, in a report for Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
In recent decades many Israelis have seen the role of the military advocate general “as protecting soldiers from prosecution abroad”, said Prof Yagil Levy, head of the Institute for the Study of Civil-Military Relations at Israel’s Open University.
“In other words, the law is not upheld as a value in itself, but as a defence against international tribunals.”
Her office exists (to self-police just enough?) to avert international prosecution.
It’s not so straightforward.
Her office exists (to self-police just enough?) to avert international prosecution.