A report released Sunday by two human rights organizations charges that the Shin Bet security service is employing torture because of two ruling by the Israeli High Court- one allowing torture and another banning it.
Typical.

The joint report by B'Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, was based on testimony of prisoners arrested between July 2005 and March 2006.

According to the report, the torture includes beating, painful binding, back bending, body stretching and prolonged sleep deprivation.
The report states that the methods are used to break the prisoners under questioning, violate High Court rulings governing the conduct of interrogations.

The authors of the report severely criticize the State Prosecutor's Office and the courts for allegedly allowing these practices to be used.

A 1999 the Israeli High Court ruling declared an absolute ban on the use of torture during interrogation.

But the court then allowed torture as part of the questioning, if it did not have the aim of breaking the spirit of those under interrogation.

Oh well. That’s all right then.

According to the report, Shin Bet interrogators are supported by other authorities in Israel . "Shin Bet and soldiers do not operate in a vacuum, they are part of a system. The situation described in this document could not have come about without the support of other bodies responsible for implementing the law in Israel."

Harsh criticism was also directed at the High Court in the report, which it said gives the seal of approval to decrees which make it possible to prevent detainees access to legal representation. Hundreds of petitions have been made on this subject, and none of them has been followed up, it said.