The Landau Commission was a three-man Commission set up by the Israeli Government in 1987 following a long-running scandal over the deaths of two Palestinian prisoners in custody and the wrongful conviction of a Circassian IDF officer. The Commission, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau, found that the GSS (General Security Service/Shabak/Shin Bet) interrogators routinely used physical force during the interrogation of prisoners and then committed perjury at subsequent trials. In its conclusion, approved by Cabinet in November 1987, it lay down guidelines for the use of a "moderate measure of physical pressure". The details of the recommended methods were described in the classified appendix to the report. In 1994 the UN Committee Against Torture stated: "The Landau Commission Report, permitting as it does 'moderate physical pressure' as a lawful mode of interrogation, is completely unacceptable to this Committee."
Background
The hijacking of Bus 300 in 1984 led to public disquiet about the GSS. In 1986 the head of the GSS, Avraham Shalom resigned after being accused of attempting to frame a senior IDF general for the murder of two Palestinian prisoners killed after the hijacking. With his resignation he was given a Presidential pardon. On 6 August 1986 the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the pardon, but Attorney General Yosef Harish promised there would be an investigation.
Over the summer of 1986 the Israeli public were also facing the unfolding Pollard spy scandal in the United States as well as the publication of a very critical report into the banking system. It is possible that concerns about the GSS would have been forgotten. But a fresh scandal arouse the following year, April 1987.
A change in the law had created an opening for verdicts of Military Courts to be challenged in the Supreme Court. In 1980 Azat Naffso, an IDF Lieutenant and member of Israel's 2,000-strong Circassian community from Kfar Kanna, had been convicted by a secret court martial of transmitting information and explosives to "hostile parties" and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Naffso, lodged an appeal against his sentence on the grounds of fabricated evidence and false testimony. At the end of May 1987 he was released after being cleared of most of the charges. Attorney General Harish had offered no opposition to the appeal. The court was very critical about GSS behavior, in particular by GSS claims that Naffso's confessions, on which the case was based, were given freely and without undue pressure. The court ordered that Naffso should be financially compensated and his IDF rank restored. Once again GSS activities were being discussed in public. Israeli state television quoted "Senior Shabak (GSS) figures" as saying that Naffso was subject to procedures identical to those "in hundreds of other cases."
Under immense pressure from the judiciary the Government set up a secret three man Commission of inquiry headed by the President of the Supreme Court Moshe Landau.
The Commission
The "Commission of Inquiry into the Methods of Investigation of the General Security Service Regarding Hostile Terrorist Activity" was established on 31 May 1987. Its remit was to look into "the investigation methods and procedures of the GSS on Hostile Terrorist Activity, and the giving of testimony in Court regarding these investigations."
The final report was published on 30 October 1987 and endorsed by the cabinet 8 November 1987.
The Findings
Perjury
In the previous two decades some 50% of GSS interrogations led to trials, and "the overwhelming majority of those tried were convicted on the basis of their confession in court."
The Commission found that interrogators were permitted "from time to time to employ means of pressure, including physical pressure." They found this measure "unavoidable" and "an interrogation tool of utmost importance." but that a "dilemma" arouse about revealing the methods of interrogation since it would "appear to the court as violating the principle of a person's free will, and thus causing the rejection of the confession."
They found that the GSS "simply lied, thus committing the criminal offence of perjury" and that "false testimony in court soon became the unchallenged norm which was to be the rule for 16 years." In 1982 a written "guideline as to the nature of the lie to be told" with regard to "method of physical pressure" was issued by the highest GSS authorities.
The Commission was satisfied that the practice of committing perjury had "completely discontinued" after the head of GSS issued a directive on 10 June 1987.