Rabbis for Human Rights - North America

Shana Tova from RHR-NA: A message from Executive Director Steven Gerber

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:54:17 +0000

As we head into the Jewish New Year, we at Rabbis for Human Rights-North America see reason for both hope and concern.

This past week marked the encouraging initiation of direct peace talks between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority in Washington, DC. Back in the Middle East though, terrorists murdered and injured Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories. Despite Prime Minister Netanyahu's plea to settlers to show restraint and respect for the rule of law, violence against Palestinians has continued and the expansion of settlements goes unabated. In East Jerusalem, our Israeli colleagues from Rabbis for Human Rights have observed Israeli security forces aggressively breaking up non-violent inter-religious / inter-ethnic political demonstrations and arresting activists.

Recent hate speech espoused by Jewish leaders and Palestinian factions has further fueled Middle East tensions. Former Chief Sephardic Rabbi, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who remains the spiritual leader of Israel's Shas Party, said that Palestinian President "Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this world" and that "God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians." Other Israeli rabbis were summoned for questioning by police for inciting racism in an unrelated case last month. Incendiary statements from Hamas and Hezbollah praised the recent terrorist attacks and warned of more violence to come.

Despite all this contentiousness, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America sees reason for optimism as the peace talks get underway. RHR-NA remains committed to the protection of human rights of all the inhabitants of Israel and the West Bank, the resolution of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, and we are steadfast in our denouncement of both Palestinian and Israeli violence and violence-provoking hate speech. RHR-NA calls upon the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority to investigate the recent incidents and hold those responsible accountable for their actions.

Join us in making the new year that is ahead of us one of peace and justice. Make a tax deductible donation to support this crucial work. Thank you for your partnership with us.

Shana Tovah,

Steven Gerber
Executive Director
Rabbis for Human Rights-North America

Rabbis for Human Rights Annual Activity Report 5771

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:34:59 +0000

We are pleased to present RHR Israel's most recent annual report. We hope you enjoy learning about our important work and activities.

High Holiday Resources Available Now!

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:32:34 +0000

With the Yamim Noraim fast approaching, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America is pleased to present you with the following resources for use in your community. As we gather together to examine the previous year and hope for renewal in the year to come, it is a wonderful opportunity to raise key human rights questions and ponder how we--as Jews, as Americans, and as global citizens--can ensure that the human rights of all are protected in 5771.

How do we balance our love of Israel with the need to fight for the human rights of all its citizens? In this excellent sermon, Rabbi Robert Dobrusin provides an introduction to the work of Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel and explores what it means to want the Jewish state to do better.

On Yom Kippur, we are asked to account for our lives over the past year. This year, for the first time, the United States accounted for itself and American fight against modern slavery in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Read more in these talking points on slavery for the High Holidays.

This month marks the beginning of the first military commission under President Obama, the trial of child soldier Omar Khadr, who was subjected to torture during his interogation. Speak out in your congregation on torture, arbitrary and indefinite detention, and Jewish values on self-incrimination with these talking points.

Also for use in your congregation:

A misheberach for victims of slavery and human trafficking

A misheberach for victims of torture.

Justice and Respect in Israel: A sermon for the High Holidays, 2010

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:11:22 +0000

With many thanks to Rabbi Robert Dobrusin for this excellent introduction to RHR-Israel's work.

One of the most familiar prayers of the High Holy Day liturgy is U’ntaneh Tokef. The words of this prayer send a chilling feeling down our spine: “mi yiheyeh u’mi yamut”, who will live and who will die.

Regardless of our personal theology and to what degree we believe that God controls the length of our days, these words give us pause to consider the aspects of our physical lives which we can control: what we eat and drink, how we deal with stress, how we take care to prevent illness. It is appropriate that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur be the times when we make the decision to take steps to improve our physical lives.

But, as important as the length of our days is, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur must be about more than our diet and our commitment to exercise. The holy days are a time of teshuva, repentance, returning to the proper path: the path of proper behavior, awareness of the moral and ethical in life, respect for others; values our tradition teaches and urges us to uphold at all times.

If the only concern we had was the length of our days, we would spend today at the gym or studying the latest trends in nutrition. But, as evidenced by our gathering here today: physical survival, physical existence, is not enough. Caring about the quality of our lives is of critical importance.

Another reason that we gather this evening is to be with our fellow Jews and that demonstrates our deep concern for being part of our people and that concern reaches both around the corner and around the world. And, as a new year dawns, we express that concern for our brothers and sisters in the State of Israel.

We are fully aware that in this world of tension and uncertainty, in this world of anti-Israel rhetoric and actions, Israel’s long-term security, its very existence, is threatened. We stand with Israel in its quest for security, pray for the safety and welfare of those who defend her and commit ourselves to doing what we can, from a distance, to insure her survival.

But just as we do not come to shul with only our physical existence in mind, Israel’s future is dependent not only in insuring her physical security. Israel’s future depends as much on the quality of her soul. And like our souls, Israel’s soul will not be saved through prayer or observance of the mitzvot alone. It will be saved by the willingness to examine the moral and ethical issues that can no longer be ignored. It will be saved by listening to and learning from the voices of conscience of those who truly love her, who are fully aware of what uncertainties she faces but who understand that the health of a nation goes beyond physical security to encompass the moral and spiritual values it espouses and follows.

Absolutely, physical survival must come first but survival must have a purpose and that purpose comes with dedication to the vision of a just society, one who treats its own people and its neighbors with justice and respect.

It is in this context that I call to your attention the work of Rabbis for Human Rights, an organization that for over 20 years has given voice to the Zionist ideal and the Jewish tradition of human rights.

RHR has championed the cause of the poor in Israel; supported the rights of Israel’s minorities and Palestinians in the West Bank; worked to stop the abuse of foreign workers; endeavored to guarantee the upkeep of Israel’s public health care system; promoted the equal status of women; helped Ethiopian Jews; battled trafficking in women; and more.

Rabbis for Human Rights is not a political organization in that it doesn’t espouse particular political positions. Rather, it concerns itself with policy decisions which affect individuals living in Israel and in the West Bank and works within the legal system within Israel to represent those whose rights have been abused.

As a lover of Israel, I am truly appreciative of the work that RHR does. As a Rabbi, I am proud of the work that RHR does. Too often, we hear Rabbis in Israel make statements that do not reflect the values of equality, respect for all human beings and the importance of ethics and morals in our world. I am proud that I have colleagues in Israel who are willing to use their Rabbinic learning and training to reach out to those in Israel and under her control who are in need of support to see that their rights are respected.

Whether helping the members of a Bedouin family who do not have access to electric power and water; giving legal counsel to an Israeli woman whose rights within the legal system are being ignored; standing with the citizens of Sderot as they seek security from rockets; helping a Palestinian family separated from its olive grove by the separation barrier to harvest their olives while holding off threats by Jewish settlers; or standing with those whose homes are being threatened with destruction; Rabbis for Human Rights has taken on the difficult issues facing Israel and in so doing has, over the years, earned the respect of the court system and other institutions within Israel.

We are fond of talking about Israel as a democracy. We are fond of talking about Israel’s free press and its open and fair court system. These are legitimately sources of great pride. But, the institutions of democracy, free press and fair court system need to be protected and supported. Rabbis for Human Rights is an integral part of that protection and support and an assurance that the very values we hold dear are in fact a reality within the Jewish State.

We can disagree on the political decisions that Israel should make. We can disagree on how Israel can best respond to and plan for those who threaten her. We can disagree on how we in the Diaspora should express our opinions that affect daily life for Israelis. However, I hope that we all would agree that Israel’s future depends not only on her physical survival but on the quality of life for all of its citizens and all who are affected by her policies.

We are absolutely right in rejecting those who deny Israel’s legitimacy, who blame only Israel for the conflicts in the region and who believe that the world would be better served without a Jewish state. We must reject that opinion loudly and clearly with our voices, with travel to Israel, with support for our brothers and sisters.

But we must have a conscience and we must have a vision of a better time for all and therefore, even more so in these difficult times, we must support those of our brothers and sisters who are working to improve the quality of life for all of those living within her borders and under her control.

I urge you to learn more about Rabbis for Human Rights and to support their work. Please realize that this isn’t an issue of left vs. right, this is an issue of right and wrong, both for its own sake and for the future of the State we love.

Talking Points on Slavery and Human Trafficking, High Holidays, 2010

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:01:01 +0000

Slavery talking points, 2010

Accounting for ourselves on Yom Kippur

Wherever a person stands to lift up eyes to heaven, that place is a Holy of Holies

Every human being created by God in God’s own image is a High Priest.

Each person’s life is the Day of Atonement.

Each one of us can face God with the language of the heart.

Each one of us can be forgiven.

Each one of us can achieve atonement and be made pure in the eyes of God.

What is each of our responsibilities on Yom Kippur? This teaching, preserved by the Yiddish playwright Saul Ansky, takes the communal lesson of the biblical Yom Kippur service to an individual level of teshuvah and forgiveness. In this moment, we each have the opportunity to stand before God, enumerate what we have done, and ask to be inscribed in the Book of Life. Each one of us, created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God, has equal standing before God and each one of us has an equal chance to be heard.

And what we say about ourselves, not just what we collectively chant with others when we say the vidui, matters. It would be easy enough to just fade into the collective list of failings for the year: “We steal, we cheat, etc.” But deep in our hearts, we face a tremendous responsibility. One of the key components of Yom Kippur is chesbon hanefesh, literally the accounting of the soul, when each one of us must truly acknowledge how far we have come since last year and how far we each have to go in living the life of a mensch, the life of mitzvot.

This type of accounting, in which you acknowledge your own failings as well as those of others, is humbling. As a nation, it is not something that the United States is used to doing. And yet this year, on one very important issue, we turned away from looking at others to also do a chesbon nefesh for ourselves.

Slavery Today

Slavery and trafficking continue to plague our world. More than 27 million people are estimated to live in some form of bondage, including forced labor, sexual slavery, debt bondage, and child soldiers—more people than at any other point in human history. Part of the picture of modern slavery is the way that people are being moved and trafficked across borders. People leave their homes and set out to earn money for their families, only to be caught in webs of false promises and endless debt. The United States is both a destination for human trafficking and a source, as some Americans, living on the margins of society, are preyed on by those who would exploit them.

For the past 10 years, the United States has issued an annual report on the state of human trafficking around the world. It ranks other countries on how well they comply with the minimum standards in the fight against trafficking. States with the lowest level ranking may be subject to economic sanctions. But until this year, the United States had never ranked itself or described its own efforts to end trafficking. This year, that changed. As a country, we should hold ourselves accountable to the same standards by which we judge others. For the first time, this year’s Trafficking in Persons Report ranks the U.S. including a full, candid narrative on American efforts to combat human trafficking.

The report itself explains the strides made since the adoption of international protocols to end trafficking 10 years ago:

The 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report marks the 10th anniversary of key milestones in the fight against modern slavery. In 2000, the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), and the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol. Since then, the world has made great strides in combating this ultimate exploitation – both in terms of what we know about this crime and how we respond.

The Palermo Protocol focused the attention of the global community on combating human trafficking. For the first time, an international instrument called for the criminalization of all acts of trafficking – including forced labor, slavery, and slavery-like practices – and that governmental response should incorporate the “3P” paradigm: prevention, criminal prosecution, and victim protection.

Over 10 years, governments worldwide have made appreciable progress in understanding a number of realities about human trafficking: people are in situations of modern slavery in most countries; trafficking is a fluid phenomenon responding to market demands, weakness in laws and penalties, and economic and development disparities. More people are trafficked for forced labor than for commercial sex. The crime is less often about the flat-out duping and kidnapping of naïve victims than it is about the coercion and exploitation of people who initially entered a particular form of service voluntarily or migrated willingly. Trafficking can occur without movement across borders or domestically, but many countries and commentators still assume some movement is required. Men comprise a significant number of trafficking victims. And traffickers often use sexual violence as a weapon against women to keep them in compelled service, whether in a field, a factory, a brothel, a home, or a war zone.

Those who are trafficked are often the most vulnerable members of society. The report states:

Too often the victims of this crime are perceived to be society’s throwaways – prostitutes, runaways, the poor, racial or ethnic minorities, members of a low caste, or recent immigrants. Victims themselves do not know the legal definitions of this crime and should not be required to self-identify.

In releasing the report, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton underscored the challenges raised by the high level ranking scored by the United States:

The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America. This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it… Behind these statistics on the pages [of the report] are the struggles of real human beings, the tears of families who may never see their children again, the despair and indignity of those suffering under the worst forms of exploitation… All of us have a responsibility to bring this practice to an end. Survivors must be supported and their families aided and comforted, but we cannot turn our responsibility for doing that over to nongovernmental organizations or the faith community.

Now, we talk often here in the State Department about shared responsibility… So we have to ensure that our policies live up to our ideals. And that is why we have for the first time included the United States. As this report documents, cases of trafficking persons are found in our own communities…this report sends a clear message to all of our countrymen and women: human trafficking is not someone else’s problem. Involuntary servitude is not something we can ignore or hope doesn’t exist in our own community.

Not a reprieve but a responsibility. It would be nice for us to think that trafficking was something that happened somewhere else, to some other people. But it happens right here: all around us people are being exploited for their bodies and their labor. The report tells the stories of survivors, including this man’s experience being enslaved in the United States, even after having entered the country legally:

A recruiter in Jamaica promised Sheldon a visa through the U.S. federal H-2B seasonal worker program. The processing fee was hefty, but the prospect of working in America seemed worth it. Sheldon arrived in Kansas City eager to work, but he ended up at the mercy of human traffickers. Along with other workers from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and the Philippines, Sheldon cleaned rooms at some of the best-known hotels in Kansas City. The traffickers kept Sheldon in debt, constantly charging him fees for uniforms, transportation, and rent in overcrowded apartments. Often, his paychecks would show negative earnings. When Sheldon refused to work, the traffickers threatened to cancel his immigration status, and which would render him illegal in an instant. In May 2009, a federal grand jury indicted the leaders of this trafficking ring – including eight nationals of Uzbekistan – on charges related to forced labor in 14 states.

Here are two other stories of American trafficking:

Katya, a student athlete in an Eastern European capital city, dreamed of learning English and visiting the United States. Her opportunity came in the form of a student visa program, through which international students can work temporarily in the United States. But when she got to America, rather than being taken to a job at a beach resort, the people who met her put her on a bus to Detroit, Michigan. They took her passport away, and forced her and her friends to dance in strip clubs for the traffickers’ profit. They controlled the girls’ movement and travel, kept keys to the girls’ apartment, and listened in on phone calls the girls made to their parents. After a year of enslavement, Katya and her friend were able to reach federal authorities with the help of a patron of the strip club in whom they had confided. Due to their bravery, six other victims were identified and rescued. Katya now has immigration status under the U.S. trafficking law. She works in a health club and hopes to finish her degree in kinesiology. The traffickers are in federal prison.

Harriet ran away from home when she was 11 years old and moved in with a 32-year-old man who sexually and physically abused her and convinced her to become a prostitute. In the next two years, Harriet became addicted to drugs and contracted numerous sexually transmitted diseases. The police arrested Harriet when she was 13 and charged her with committing prostitution. They made no efforts to find her pimp. Harriet was placed on probation for 18 months in the custody of juvenile probation officials. Her lawyers have appealed the decision, arguing that since she could not legally consent to sex, she cannot face prostitution-related charges.

Continuing to ignore the need for the United States to do a chesbon nefesh would have been the easy route, but it would have ignored the exploitation in our midst. The challenge was for us to do better. Indeed, the challenge is still for us to do better.

According to Ambassaor Luis Cdebaca:

In our first Trafficking in Persons Report, we cited the U.S. only as a destination or transit country, oblivious to the reality that we, too, are a source country for people held in servitude. We have all had successes and we have all made mistakes. And we will continue to make them as we reach toward solutions that the victims of this crime so desperately need. We have an involuntary servitude problem now just as we always have throughout history. But the American story is one of striving for perfection; the perfection we believe in and overcoming the great challenges that stand in our way. In our striving to become a more perfect union, we will not shrink away from the promise; the promise of freedom that Abraham Lincoln made almost 150 years ago.

Some additional quotes from this year’s Trafficking in Persons Report:

“The victims of modern slavery have many faces. They are men and women, adults and children. Yet, all are denied basic human dignity and freedom. …

All too often suffering from horrible physical and sexual abuse, it is hard for them to imagine that there might be a place of refuge.”

U.S. President Barack Obama, January 4, 2010

More and more people including young women are on the move, at a time when changing patterns of production and consumption are in turn affecting demand for labour. … A particular problem throughout the world has been the manipulation of financial credit, locking poor people into severe indebtedness and in the worst cases a debt bondage that can be equated legally with modern slavery.”

Roger Plant, former head of the ILO’s Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labor

The familiar remedies of food, shelter, schools and medicine are urgent, but they do not address the root cause of aggressive violence that manifests itself in slavery – indefensible abuse of the vulnerable by the more powerful. Addressing this issue will require a systemic and sustained commitment to effective public justice systems that protect the global poor.”

Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission

Ambassador Luis Cdebaca:

Millions continue to toil in modern forms of slavery. Disturbing trends are coming into focus, such as the feminization of migration. For example, in the last three years, one source country in Southeast Asia has seen the demographics of its outgoing migrants switch from majority male to more than 70 percent female. Given the unscrupulous nature of labor recruiting, this trend leads to the feminization of labor trafficking, once simply thought of as the male counterpoint to sex trafficking. But like their brothers, husbands, and sons, women are trapped in fields, factories, mines, and restaurants, often suffering the dual demons of forced labor and sexual assault. As we more fully understand the plight of women who are victims of labor trafficking, we continue to see the devastating effects of sex trafficking, where services for survivors are as rare as programs that address the demand for their victimization. And if they are found, women are repatriated as a matter of first instance, or are locked in “shelters” that look more like prisons than the safe haven that a survivor needs.

For more information about the 2010 Trafficking In Person, please visit http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/

In particular, we recommend the 54 page introduction, which includes statistics on human trafficking, definitions of different forms of slavery, and stories of survivors of modern slavery. Specific information about efforts to fight trafficking in the United States and the Tier One ranking can be found in the country narrative for the U.S., which is in this section of the report: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/142984.pdf

For actions you can take in the fight against slavery, please visit www.rhr-na.org.

Talking Points on Indefinite and Arbitrary Detention, High Holidays, 2010

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:52:16 +0000

Yom Kippur: Standing in Judgment

Throughout the Days of Awe, we use the imagery of being on trial with our lives in the balance, waiting to hear if we have been inscribed for another year in the Book of Life. We appeal to God’s mercy, rather than justice, yet understanding that both justice and mercy are needed for the world to function. As a community, we say vidui, confession, and hope that our testimony and our pleas reach God’s ears. We turn our fate over to the Supreme Judge. Whether we believe this literally, or see it as a metaphor, Yom Kippur is a powerful moment in time when we examine our lives and pledge to do better. We confess all manners of transgressions, whether or not we knowingly participated in them in the year that has ended, so that no

And yet the verdict is known: each year, we are forgiven. God has mercy on what we have done. Our confessions and our pledges to rehabilitate our lives are accepted. We can begin again.

Human trials lack an all-knowing God making perfect decisions from on high. Jewish law, especially in capital cases, requires unimpeachable witnesses to provide testimony as to a crime. Jewish law is also clear that one may not be compelled to self-incriminate, and that evidence obtained in a confession might be tainted. Evidence obtained under torture cannot be admitted in a Jewish court of law.

And in American civilian courts, it cannot be admitted as well. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits a person from forced to testify against themselves and ensures the right to due process in judicial proceedings. Evidence obtained under torture is notoriously suspect, as a person will say anything to get the torture to end. American law ensures that suspects are read their rights, that they have the right to access the evidence used against them, and that they are given a swift trial.

Despite these limitations, the civilian court system has been remarkably effective in prosecuting suspects in the War on Terror, convicting close to 200 terrorists. American courts are able to protect state secrets, hold prisoners securely in Supermax prisons (no prisoner has ever escaped from a Supermax prison), and ensure that those who are determined to hurt us are brought to justice. However, since 9/11, the government has repeatedly tried to create an alternative system of justice to try suspected terrorists. Though the Supreme Court has ruled at various times that military commissions are unconstitutional and that the right of habeas corpus applies to suspects from the War on Terror, the government under both President Bush and President Obama have insisted that certain criminals are too dangerous to be tried on American soil or that it would imperil us as a nation to have the evidence against them revealed. Some suspected terrorists may never be tried at all, and will be held indefinitely.

This fall, we will see the results of this alternative system of justice in the trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen now on trial in a military commission for crimes allegedly committed when he was 15. Child soldiers under the age of 18 are traditionally treated as victims—indeed, the U.S. State Department considers it to be a form of modern slavery—but Khadr is being tried as an adult and has been imprisoned at Guantanamo for eight years. The evidence against Khadr was obtained under torture. In pretrial hearings in his case, the lead interrogator in his case testified that his interrogation tactics included yelling, throwing things, threats and coercion, and in Khadr’s case specifically included the threat of gang rape and possible death in prison. Similar allegation of torture in the case of another teenager held at Guantanamo, Mohamed Jawad, caused his case to be dismissed and he was returned to Afghanistan. But the judge in the Khadr case has ruled that the evidence obtained under torture can be admitted in court. Khadr has expressed the opinion that his case is stacked against him.

Many of the detainees held in Guantanamo are losing hope of every being released, even those who have been cleared for release but cannot be sent back to their home country. It goes against American law to hold people indefinitely without a chance of trial, and yet the government continues to assert its right to do so, first at Guantanamo and then at the Baghram prison in Afghanistan, out of reach of the protections of the American constitution. Indefinite detention also goes against American moral values. It is those values that we are supposedly protecting in the War on Terror, and we must follow them.

As we stand today in judgment, we must take action to ensure that in the fight against terror, we stand up for the values we hold as a nation. We cannot allow our moral compass to be defined by our enemies. For more information on actions you can take to restore the rule of law and hold President Obama to the promises he made as a candidate and on his first day in office, please visit:

www.rhr-na.org

www.humanrightsfirst.org

www.aclu.org

Select Jewish Sources

Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 9b

A person may not incriminate himself.

Rambam, Hilkhot Sanhedrin 18:6

“It is possible [a defendant] was confused in mind when he made the confession. Perhaps he was one of those who was in misery, bitter in soul, who long for death…”

Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, “The Bar against Self-Incrimination as a Protection against Torture in Jewish and American Law”

Jewish law, by contrast, is almost categorical in its ban of self-incriminating statements, declaring confessions inadmissible as evidence whether voluntary or involuntary, in-court or out-of-court, spontaneous or extorted…

The prohibition against self-incrimination is derived from two Biblical verses: “One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity…At the mouth of two witnesses… shall the matter be established” (Deut. 19:15; cf. Num. 35:30 and Deut. 17:6); and “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers…” (Deut. 24:16).

The sages read the first verse literally; a person may not be convicted on the basis of one witness’ testimony, even when confirmed by circumstantial evidence.4 From the second verse, the rabbis derive the law excluding the testimony of relatives (BT Sanhedrin 27b). On the basis of this second rule, Rava sets forth the principle that becomes the basis of the ban on self-incrimination; a person may not incriminate himself since he is his own kinsman. Like his relatives, he may not join in the prosecutorial process, serving—through a self-indicting confession—as one of the two witnesses necessary to determine guilt (BT Sanhedrin 9b);

Background materials

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Here are some questions and answers on closing Guatanamo, military commissions, and the importance of using the existing civilian legal system for trying suspects in the War on Terror (adapted from Human Rights First):

Q: Why do we need to close Guantanamo?

A: Key military and intelligence experts say Guantanamo is risk to US national security. Alberto Mora, Former General Counsel of the Navy, testified that "There are serving U.S. flag-rank officers who maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq – as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat – are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo." Admiral Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, elaborated: "I agree with the President that the detention center at Guantanamo has become a damaging symbol to the world and that it must be closed. It is a rallying cry for terrorist recruitment and harmful to our national security, so closing it is important for our national security."[1]

Q: Are regular federal courts the appropriate forum to try Guantanamo detainees suspected of crimes of terrorism and war crimes?

A: Yes, our federal courts have proven that they are up to the task. In a study of 119 terrorism cases with 289 defendants, filed since 2001, Human Rights First found that of the 214 defendants whose cases were resolved as of June 2, 2009, 195 were convicted either by verdict or by a guilty plea.[2]

Since Jan. 1, 2009, more than 30 individuals charged with terrorism violations have been successfully prosecuted and/or sentenced in federal courts nationwide.[3] The War Crimes Act also explicitly gives federal courts jurisdiction to try war crimes.[4]

Q: Will regular courts be able to protect American secrets?

A: U.S. federal courts are fully equipped to protect sensitive information concerning national security. The Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) establishes a detailed set of procedures designed to balance the defendant's right to a fair trial with the need to protect sensitive evidence that could endanger national security if disclosed. In many terrorism cases, U.S. courts have applied CIPA to successfully protect U.S. national security not only in espionage prosecutions but in terrorism prosecutions as well. HRF has also been unable to identify a single instance in which CIPA was invoked and there was a substantial leak of sensitive information as a result of a terrorism prosecution in federal court. [5]

Background on military commissions (adapted from Human Rights First)

Military Commissions

On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2009, which was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). MCA 2009 is the third attempt at creating a military commissions system. The new reforms to the system include some improvements over the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the November 12, 2001 Military Order issued by President Bush which first created a military commissions system after September 11. MCA 2009 however, still fails to provide many of the fundamental elements of a fair trial found in federal civilian courts and a court martial system. For example, the rules permit the admission of coerced testimony obtained at the point of capture; they use an overbroad definition of who can be tried before military commissions that includes juveniles and those not even engaged in hostilities; and they permit defendants to be tried ex-post facto for conduct not considered to constitute a war crime at the time it was committed.

On November 13, 2009, the Justice Department announced that the cases of the September 11 defendants — who had been charged in the military commissions in 2008 — will be transferred for prosecution in the Southern District of New York.

On April 27, 2010, the Department of Defense, after a long delay, finally released new rules governing the military commission proceedings. The new manual provides some needed reforms, such as giving defendants in capital cases the right to at least one additional counsel who is learned in applicable law relating to death penalty cases. Under the old rules, defendants in capital cases had no such right.

But the manual includes troubling rules that likely will undermine the constitutionality of future convictions. For example, the manual continues to permit the introduction of coerced statements under certain circumstances. In addition, unlike in courts-martial or regular federal courts, it permits evidence derived from statements obtained by cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment if "use of such evidence would otherwise be consistent with the interests of justice." In addition, the manual, consistent with the 2009 Military Commissions Act, continues to permit defendants to be tried ex-post facto for conduct not considered to constitute a war crime at the time it was committed, such as material support for terrorism.

Background of Previous Military Commissions

On November 13, 2001, President Bush issued a Military Order that authorized the trial of non-U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism before military commissions. In July 2003, the Administration designated six men to be tried before the military commissions - all of them detainees at the U.S. Naval Base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Two of the designated detainees were subsequently released. The military commissions began on August 23, 2004. On June 29, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld held that the military commissions violated U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions.

On October 17, 2006, President Bush signed the Military Commissions Act 2006 (MCA) into law. The MCA, among other things, establishes a system of military commissions for trials of non-U.S. citizen individuals who have been determined to be “unlawful enemy combatants.”

From Habeas Works: Federal Courts Proven Capacity to Handle Guantanamo Cases (The Constitution Project and Human Rights First)

The government began to detain individuals at Guantánamo in January 2002. After a series of storied decisions culminating in Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court charged the judges of the District Court with developing the framework for reviewing the habeas cases of individuals detained at Guantánamo in order to determine whether their detentions are lawful. Some commentators, including some judges and legislators, have suggested that the courts are struggling to take on an essentially legislative project, and that the courts are in desperate need of further instruction from Congress. On the contrary, courts are well suited to meet this challenge. Their competence in developing evidentiary and procedural rules comes from hard-won experience. District Court judges are on the front lines, applying the law to complex facts and balancing the competing needs of litigants. Because of their institutional competence, courts have historically developed rules of procedure and evidence. This was true under the common law, and it is true of the Federal Rules.

Jennifer Turner, The Human Rights Project, the American Civil Liberties Union

It boggles the mind that the military judge could find that Khadr was not coerced and gave these statements to interrogators voluntarily. Khadr, then 15 years old, was taken to Bagram near death, after being shot twice in the back, blinded by shrapnel, and buried in rubble from a bomb blast. He was interrogated within hours, while sedated and handcuffed to a stretcher. He was threatened with gang rape and death if he didn't cooperate with interrogators. He was hooded and chained with his arms suspended in a cage-like cell, and his primary interrogator was later court-martialed for detainee abuse leading to the death of a detainee. During his subsequent eight-year (so far) detention at Guantánamo, Khadr was subjected to the "frequent flyer" sleep deprivation program and he says he was used as a human mop after he was forced to urinate on himself.

In closing arguments before the judge's ruling, Khadr's sole defense lawyer, Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, told the judge, "Sir, be a voice today. Tell the world that we actually stand for what we say we stand for."

Though President Obama promised that coerced evidence would not be used against detainees in the military commissions, today's ruling suggests that as a country, we stand for abusing a 15-year-old teenager into confessing, and using those confessions against him in an illegitimate proceeding.

The Religious Case Against Torture

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:38:28 +0000

From Mourning to Celebration: a d'var torah by Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Rachel Kahn-Troster — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:54:06 +0000

Celebrating Hope in Impossible Conditions

Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Can you imagine living out your own death not just once, but forty times? According to one midrash, that’s exactly what the Israelites did during their journey through the wilderness. According to this text, once God decreed that the generation that left Egypt would die in the desert, the people began spending each Tisha B’Av preparing for their own deaths:

Rabbi Levi said: Each year, on the day before Tisha B’Av, Moses would send a herald through the whole camp to proclaim, “Go out and dig.” And they would go out and dig graves and would sleep in them. The next morning, a herald would go out saying, “Stand up and separate the dead from the living.” They would stand up and get out of their graves, and would find fifteen thousand missing. By the end of the forty years, six hundred thousand (the entire first generation) were missing. And in the fortieth and last year, they did such, and found that no one was missing. They said, “It seems that we made a mistake in the date.” So they did the same thing on the tenth of Av, and on the eleventh, and on the twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth. When the full moon came (showing that the ninth of the month had certainly passed), they said, “It seems that God has cancelled the decree.” And they went and turned the day into a festival. (Eicha Rabbah, Petichta 33)

Imagine being among this last generation of the living. For each of the past forty years, or for every year since your birth, you have spent Tisha B’Av sleeping in your own grave. When you go to sleep on the evening of the ninth of Av, you never know whether you will wake up in the morning. When you do wake up, you go searching for your parents, siblings, friends, and neighbors, knowing that some of them will probably be missing.

Finally, the survivors wake up the fortieth year and find that there have been no overnight deaths. They cannot believe that the plague has passed. So they spend the rest of the week sleeping in their graves, waiting for the deaths to come. Only after five more nights of this morbid ritual do they allow themselves to celebrate. This celebration corresponds to the holiday of Tu B’av (fifteenth of Av), described by the Talmud as a festival of love.

How are the people who enter the land of Israel affected by the experience of having lived through their own deaths year after year? It is hard to believe that these macabre memories would ever fade. We might imagine the members of this generation obsessed with death. Maybe they never allow themselves to invest in their new homeland, out of worry that they will not live to see the fruits of their labors. Eventually, of course, the descendents of this generation do bring tragedy upon themselves through the behavior that leads to the destruction to the first and second Temples on Tisha B’Av many years later. Perhaps the last generation of the desert bequeaths to their children a self-fulfilling prophecy of death and destruction.

For those of us who have spent years working and praying for a just and peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it sometimes feels as though we have spent years sleeping in our own graves. Year after year, we watch as thousands of individuals on all sides suffer as a result of the ongoing occupation. We never know who will make it through the year. Nor are we ever able to breathe a sigh of relief, and to say “we have survived.”

It is easy to adopt a fatalist attitude. We can give up on taking any action to change the situation, and instead simply try to protect ourselves and our loved ones. After all, we might tell ourselves, people die every year, and will continue to die. Countless hours of peace work seem to go nowhere. Each morning’s news brings more stories of failed talks and continued pain.

The Jewish community is very good at this kind of mournful thinking. Tisha B’Av, which we marked today, may not be the most popular Jewish holiday, but it is still more widely observed than the more festive Tu B’Av, which takes place this coming Monday. Tu B’Av is the celebration of life, hope, and possibility even in the most impossible conditions. Celebrating Tu B’Av is a statement of hope, even when the whiff of death is still fresh.

We have already spent Tisha B’av mourning the destruction of the Temple, the exile of our ancestors, and the suffering of the Jewish people throughout history. Now it’s time to celebrate. This Tu B’av, consider hosting an event, or at least raising a toast devoted to hope. We have spent enough time sleeping in our own graves. Now is the time to move forward.

In Israel, the Noble vs. The Ugly

Steven Gerber — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:17:43 +0000

In Israel, the Noble vs. The Ugly

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: July 7, 2010 New York Times

Israel goes out of its way to display its ugliest side to the world by tearing down Palestinian homes or allowing rapacious settlers to steal Palestinian land.

Yet there’s also another Israel as well, one that I mightily admire. This is the democracy that tolerates a far greater range of opinions than America. It’s a citadel of civil society. And, crazily, it’s the place where some of the most courageous and effective voices on behalf of oppressed Palestinians belong to Israeli rabbis — like Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights.

Rabbi Ascherman — 50, tall, lean and bearded with mournful eyes (if central casting ever needed a Prophet Jeremiah type, he’d be it) — grew up in Erie, Pa. He fell in love with Israel on a brief visit between high school and college and moved here in 1994. At Rabbis for Human Rights, he presides over 20 staff members and hundreds of volunteers who sometimes serve as human shields to protect Palestinians — even if that means getting arrested or beaten.

I watched the ugly side of Israel collide with its more noble version, as Rabbi Ascherman and I visited a rural area in the northern West Bank where Jewish settlers have taken over land that Palestinian farmers say is theirs.

“If we try to enter our land, settlers will be waiting, and we will be beaten,” said Muhammad Moqbel, a 71-year-old Palestinian from the village of Qaryout who pointed to fields that he said had been stolen by settlers. Last year, he said, he was hospitalized with a broken rib after settlers attacked while he was picking his own olives.

Rabbis for Human Rights has helped Palestinians recover some land through lawsuits in Israeli courts. And Rabbi Ascherman and other Jewish activists escort such farmers to protect them. The settlers still attack, but soldiers are more likely to intervene when it is rabbis being clubbed.

As Mr. Moqbel and Rabbi Ascherman were explaining all this to me, a settler vehicle came down to confront us. And then another. The settlers photographed us. We photographed them. I asked them if they would agree to be interviewed. They refused to respond to my questions.

“They’re just trying to intimidate us,” Rabbi Ascherman said.

As was the case in the American civil rights movement, the activists here often become targets. Palestinian youths have stoned Rabbi Ascherman’s car, and he has been arrested and beaten up by security forces and settlers alike. (His car is almost as ancient as Jerusalem, and he has to lift the hood and fiddle with wires to get it started, which impedes fast getaways.)

Yet shared beatings also break down malevolent stereotypes of Jews among Palestinians.

Once, he says, he got a call that a 13-year-old Palestinian kid was being beaten by Israeli soldiers and rushed to the scene. Then he was himself tear-gassed, head-butted and arrested by the soldiers. The boy later recounted wonderingly that a tall Jewish stranger had run to his rescue and, in the process of being arrested, comforted him by saying: “Don’t be afraid.”

This “other Israel” extends far beyond Rabbis for Human Rights. The most cogent critiques of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians invariably come from Israel’s own human rights organizations. The most lucid unraveling of Israel’s founding mythology comes from Israeli historians. The deepest critiques of Israel’s historical claims come from Israeli archeologists (one archeological organization, Emek Shaveh, offers alternative historical tours so that visitors can get a fuller picture). This more noble Israel, refusing to retreat from its values even in times of fear and stress, is a model for the world.

In the Middle East, on all sides, the most religious people are sometimes the most hateful. By challenging religious extremism, Rabbis for Human Rights redeems not only Israeli values, but also Jewish ones.

Rabbis for Human Rights has had strong support from North American Jews, and some American children participate in the classic Zionist gesture — planting a tree for Israel — by sending money so that the rabbis can replant an olive tree for a Palestinian whose grove was uprooted by settlers.

Not everyone finds Rabbi Ascherman inspiring. He gets death threats, and hard-line Israelis see him as a naïve traitor.

He responds that he is struggling to uphold his religious and moral values. But he also argues that building bridges between Jews and Palestinians helps make Israel a safer place for his children. “In the long run, we’re going to live here together,” he says, “or we’re going to die here together.”

“When we get the death threats and people say we’re traitors and anti-Israel, I think, ‘Who is really doing more for Israel’s physical survival?’ ” he says. “ ‘Those who demolish homes and uproot trees, or those who rebuild homes and replant trees?’ ”

Mondoweiss blog on housing issues in Silwan

Steven Gerber — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:06:14 +0000