Winner of the 2014 Investigative Journalism Walkley Award
In 2013 The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) released a scathing report finding that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) threatens Palestinian children in the Occupied Territories “with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault.”
This joint investigation by Four Corners and The Australian newspaper reveals evidence that the IDF targets Palestinian boys for arrest and detention. Reporter John Lyons travels to the West Bank to hear the stories of children who claim they have been taken into custody, ruthlessly questioned, and then allegedly forced to sign confessions before being taken to court for sentencing.
Lyons meets Australian lawyer Gerard Horton of Military Court Watch in Ramallah, who helps Palestinian children who are arrested. He also talks to senior Israeli officials to examine what’s driving the army’s strategy.
Stone Cold Justice also exposes that Palestinian children have more to fear than the Israeli army. Israeli settlers in the West Bank regularly attack Palestinian school children, knowing the authorities will not intervene. There is clear evidence of two legal systems operating, one for Israeli children and one for young Palestinians.
Is this, as many Israelis suggest, simply part of the drive to maintain security? Or is it, as Palestinians claim, part of a much wider plan to make life in the West Bank intolerable for them? In the long term it may well breed a new generation of Palestinians prepared to do anything to gain retribution.
A time of discussion will follow the screening.
This event is sponsored by the UFV Department of Political Science.
For more information, visit Facebook “Palestine Film Series UFV”
Wed, Nov 15
3:30-5:30 pm
Abby B121
For more information, contact Philip Sherwood at sherwood.p@gmail.com
11/16/2017