The right to life
Thursday, 10 October 20:00 2019, in CREA Amsterdam
Sarit Michaeli, International Advocacy Officer of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, will discuss the systematic shirking of its obligation under international law to ensure accountability for the killing and injury of Palestinian minors by the Israeli security forces.
In 2018 only, Israeli security forces killed 55 Palestinian minors, out of a total of 290 Palestinians, most of them in the Gaza Strip. These incidents are a direct result of Israel’s reckless open-fire policy, authorized by the government and the top military command, and backed by the judicial system. This policy includes, among other things, shooting to kill incidents defined as “attacks”, giving patently unlawful orders that permit live fire at unarmed demonstrators by the Gaza-Israel fence, and bombarding densely populated areas within Gaza.
Aside from rare, publicized incidents, no one is held accountable for these incidents, and the military law enforcement system whitewashes them.
Sarit has been part of B’Tselem’s staff since October 2004, serving as the organization’s spokesperson for 12 years. As well as working with the diplomatic community and international civil society groups, she documents demonstrations in the West Bank, with a focus on security forces’ misuse of crowd control weapons, and has authored B’Tselem’s report on the subject.
The discussion will be in English
This discussion is organized by FFIPP and the Palestinian Children Rights Coalition as part of the campaign The right to life.