Testimonies
Searching and Capturing of Houses
moral army
Name: *** Rank: first sergeant Unit: Nachal elite unite Description: At first we had reservist interrogators from 504, at the onset of the events. They were highly patriotic. Yes, we had some on our crew. What did they do? They beat up prisoners. A lot. Terrible slaps, shakings, yells, intimidation. As far as we were concerned they were Shabak interrogators and knew what they were doing. Sometimes I thought they crossed the line.
Like what?
Like slapping someone really hard in the face who claims he had no idea about something, like where his brother was. Wild slaps. Really wild. I think they broke his jaw. Truth is I never saw anything quite like it, and I've seen a lot, believe me.
Where did this happen?
Late 2001. I really don't remember where. We were searching for his wanted brother, and he didn't know his whereabouts. The interrogator took him into a side room and beat him up like hell. Mad slaps. And the man kept claiming he doesn't know. So either he really took it well or he really didn't know, one or the other.
Did you run into many such cases? Was this a routine thing?
Pretty much… It depended on the interrogator. Some were more violent, some less. Some of them speak quietly and scare the hell out of people, and others scream like crazy. The Arabists on our crew didn't hold such interrogations, they didn't exert physical force on people they interrogated, but spoke to them in Arabic, used the loudspeakers in Arabic on a house, trying to assess the situation.
Searching and Capturing of Houses
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