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Mohammas Allaan
Ben-Dror Yemini

The fight against terrorism isn’t a utopia

Op-ed: The government's proposal to release hunger striker into exile isn't ideal, but better solutions are nowhere to be found.

The struggle against terrorism and against murderous, racist ideologies places civilized countries in a difficult spot. Rule of law requires due process. In the United States, it’s written into the constitution. It means, for instance, not only that there should be no punishment without a trial, but that the trial itself must take place using procedures that preserve the rights of the detainee, suspect, or defendant.

 

 

How does a civilized state act when the evidence cannot be revealed to the defendant or his legal representatives? Here and there, legal proceedings allow it. For example, in cases where classified evidentiary material is presented to the judge alone.

 

Sometimes injustices happen. But against these injustices stands the need to combat terrorism. A democratic state does not give up due process, but it does make compromises with it in order to fight terror.

 

The United States put terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay for years without a trial. The justification, or perhaps the excuse, for this is usually classified evidence.

 

The administrative detainees in Israel give rise to the exact same dilemmas. Normal legal situations don’t permit this kind of irregularity, but sometimes, just sometimes, it’s a necessity. The struggle against terrorism leads civilized countries to targeted assassinations. Is that a preferable situation?

 

Mohammed Allaan is a member of the Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization bent on putting the entire world under a repressive regime. His hunger strike is causing a number of headaches for the Israeli government, as Allaan is already receiving support from the usual coalition of human rights organizations and anti-Israeli groups. The radical Palestinian right is protesting in his defense. The Israeli right wingers are counter-protesting. This is primetime for Hanin Zoabi and Baruch Marzel.

 

To escape this mess, Israel is offering to release Allaan into a four-year exile. It’s a compromise. In this area, there are no ideal compromises. The fight against terrorism isn’t a utopia. It’s long, frustrating, work. It’s possible to oppose the government’s proposal from both sides of the political spectrum, but in the current circumstances, a compromise isn’t the best solution. It’s just the less bad one.

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.18.15, 12:50
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