Knesset extends amendment on arrest of terrorist suspects

The Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) passed an amendment to the Criminal Procedure (Arrest of a Suspect in Terrorism Offense) (Temporary Provision) Law, 5766-2006. The current amendment extends the application of the original law for an additional year, until December 31, 2012. It also amends some of the law’s provisions, based on the experience acquired since the [...]

Israeli High Court Justices deny petition requesting Shin Bet statistics about extent of regulation

The Israeli High Court of Justice denied on Tuesday a petition filed against the Shin Bet and the Prime Minister’s Office requesting information regarding the extent to which a regulation preventing Palestinian detainees from consulting with an attorney is being applied. The High Court justices agreed with the State’s stance that revealing such information has [...]

Israeli Reporter Faces Questions for Whistleblowing on ‘Targeted Killing’

An Israeli journalist wanted by authorities for publishing information from top secret documents is back in Israel after nearly a year abroad, Voice of America reports. Ha’aretz reporter Uri Blau returned to Israel Sunday after his lawyers reached an agreement with the Justice Ministry. The ministry said Blau agreed to return 1,500 documents and present [...]

Political Science academic theses on counterterrorism

Ahrnens, Anette.  Lund University, Sweden; 2007 A Quest for Legitimacy: Debating UN Security Council Rules on Terrorism and Non-proliferation. Alienated: A Reworking of the Racialization Thesis after September 11th Using the Qur’an to Justify Terrorist Violence: Analysing Selective Application of the Qur’an in English-Language Militant Islamist Discourse Berger, Michael Andrew. St Andrews University, U.K.; 2010 [...]

Article: Rotter – Gatekeepers in intelligence organizations: The case of the Israeli Security Agency

Rotter describes the role of internal legal advisors and internal auditors in Israel’s intelligence agency (ISA).

Ireland objects to EU-Israel data deal

EU Observer reports that Irish minister for justice Dermott Ahern has confirmed that Dublin is seeking to block a new European Commission initiative that would allow the free transfer of personal data on EU citizens to Israel. Ireland is concerned the data could be misused after eight fake Irish passports were allegedly used by Israel’s [...]

Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world failed

The latest report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project (click here to read full report) indicates that opinions towards US remain negative in many Muslim nations. In particular, Muslims in the Middle East are less impressed with Mr. Obama now than they were when he first delivered his message of hope and change to Cairo [...]

Medvedev meets Hamas

Russia on Thursday rebuffed Israel’s criticism of President Dmitry Medvedev’s meeting with the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas this week. Calling Hamas “a terror organisation in every way”, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it was “deeply disappointed” that Medvedev met the group’s exiled leader Khaled Meshaal during a visit to Syria this [...]

New anti-terrorist bill would replace and expand current laws in Israel

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli government finished drafting comprehensive legislation to fight terrorism and distributed it to cabinet ministers, human rights groups and other interested parties for comments and criticism.Those who received copies of the bill have until June 4 to submit their input. After considering it, the Justice Ministry will bring the [...]

Israel: New Comprehensive Counter-terrorism Memorandum Bill

Ido Rosenzweig and Yuval Shany have a post on Terrorism and Democracy Newsletter (Issue No. 17, May 2010) commenting the new Israelian counter-terrorism memorandum bill. Introduction On 21 April 2010, the Ministry of Justice published a comprehensive counter-terrorism memorandum bill (hereinafter: “the Draft Bill”).  This Draft Bill is intended to provide the authorities with the [...]