First Stage: Night-time Intrusion and Arrest

About 68% of all arrests concerning minors occur between midnight and five in the morning. It begins with the army suddenly breaking down the door to the family home and bursting inside. The sleeping household is awoken and is separated into different rooms, increasing the panic. The conduct of the soldiers inside the house accompanies aggressive shouting, cursing, and threats. The soldiers are armed and often point their weapons at the family members to scare them. The wanted youth is taken sometimes without proper clothing, a coat, or a sweater.

The first illustration released this month is by Ruth Gwily and illustrates the first step in detention: Homes broken into in the dead of night and children arrested in their beds.

Gwily, is an Israeli illustrator whose illustrations have been published in Israel and abroad in publications such as Haaretz, The New Yorker and The New York Times.

Second Stage: Handcuffs and Blindfolds

When the soldiers take the youth from his home or pick him up in the street or at school, they handcuff him and blindfold him with a piece of cloth.  They take him in an army jeep to a military base or a police station, where he is interrogated. Being handcuffed behind the back is very painful and restricts movement so that the boy cannot drink or even urinate. Blindfolding, like the loss of the sense of time, makes the boy disoriented and very anxious, so he arrives for questioning confused, not knowing where they have taken him or how much time has passed.

The illustration that represents this stage in the arrest process was drawn by the super talented artist Merav Salomon.

Merav Salomon is an illustrator, print artist, professor of illustration at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and the founder of the Salomon & Daughters books.

Third Stage – Where are the Children?

The parents of arrested children are left in the dark, no one provides information about where the child was taken, for how long, and when they will be able to see the minor.

The damage to the family relationships and parental authority deprives the children of the sense of protection that parents strive to give their children and stay with the family long after the arrest.

In addition, the child generally goes through a very lengthy legal process from which the parents are excluded. In most cases, the first time the parents will see their child will be at the hearing in the Ofer military court, but there is no physical contact or personal conversation allowed.   If the child remains in custody, the parents must apply to the regional administrator for a permit to visit him, which can sometimes take weeks or even months

This illustration t was designed by Itai Raveh, illustrator and graphic designer, a graduate of the Department of Visual Communication at Shenkar. The illustration expresses the helplessness of the parents, the horror and their cry in the dark.

Fourth Stage – Preventing Legal Counsel

Legal advice before being questioned is perhaps the most important and critical advice in any legal proceedings. A youth who does not receive legal advice before being questioned does not know what to expect, is unaware of his rights, and how he should conduct himself in the interrogation. The lack of legal representation has an impact on the whole process, irrespective of whether the accused is guilty of what he is charged with. Therefore preventing effective legal consultation before the interrogation is a blatant and serious breach of the accused’s rights, particularly in the case of minors.  

Sometimes the investigators allow the accused a short telephone conversation that does not fulfil the purposes of legal consultation.

This illustration was illustrated by Orit Bergman. Bergman writes and illustrates children’s books, adapts her stories to the theatre and frequently meets children across the country. Her books were published in Israel, France, China and the USA. Bergman studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem where she now heads the illustration studies.

Seventh Stage – Remanded until end of Proceedings

International law dealing with human rights includes provisions stating that children must not be held in custody during the legal proceedings against them. If there is a need to arrest them, they should be held for the shortest time required and only as a last resort. 

Custody until the end of proceedings must be based on a decision that is reasonable and necessary in the specific circumstances, for purposes such as preventing absconding, interfering with evidence, or preventing further offences.

In opposition to this, the Military Youth Court has ruled time and again that an absolute majority of the children brought before it must remain in custody until the end of the proceedings, irrespective of the circumstances, the severity of the offences, their mental or physical state, or the real danger they pose to the public.

This policy is completely contrary to the International Treaty on the Rights of the Child and to the spirit of the Youth Law (Judgement, Punishment, and Ways of Handling) 1971 that applies in Israel. In 88% of the cases documented by MCW during 2019, the children brought before the Military Court were kept in custody until the end of proceedings, by comparison with children within Israel, of whom only 18% were kept in custody until the end of proceedings by the Military Youth Court.

Demonstrating this cruel act is a beautiful yet painful illustration that was drawn for us by Romi Album. Album is an illustrator and visual artist. She has a career creating wonderful illustrations for various children’s books and magazines and works as a freelance exhibitor and illustrator.