Dovish Israeli Group Says Israeli Army Investigations are “Whitewash”

The Israeli human rights group Btzelem, which campaigns against Israel’s presence in the West Bank, says it is giving up taking complaints over the conduct of Israeli soldiers to the army itself, after 25 years of going through official channels brought few prosecutions. “Continuing to file complaints to the military law enforcement does more harm than good,” the group said in a new report entitled “The Occupation’s Fig Leaf.” The Military Advocate General (MAG, equivalent to JAG in the US) supervises the rule of law in the West Bank, including investigations of soldiers. Btzelem said the army investigations were inefficient and soldiers were rarely convicted. The 80 page report said that in the past five years, just three percent of criminal investigations into alleged offenses by soldiers led to convictions. The Israeli army slammed the report saying it was “biased and does not reflect reality. The IDF is committed to the rule of law and its legal system acts with utmost professionalism and thoroughness,” the IDF spokesman’s office said in a statement.