More Unlawful Strip Searches Conducted by Police
ACRI has sent appeals on four separate occasions to the Police Commissioner, the Police Legal Counsel, and the Attorney General after police officers conducted unlawful full or partial strip searches of protesters.
The first incident took place in June 2025, when police officers conducted full or partial strip searches of women detained at a protest in Jerusalem. The details of the incidents described in the appeal raised serious concerns about the systematic mistreatment of women protesters with the aim of degrading and humiliating them in order to deter protesters, particularly women, from participating in future protests.
ACRI sent another appeal in November 2025, following an unlawful full strip search of a citizen who shouted protest statements at the Minister of National Security.
We sent a third appeal in March 2026 on behalf of 19-year-old Itamar Greenberg who was arrested in Tel Aviv at a peaceful protest against the war with Iran and subjected to a full strip search designed to degrade and humiliate him. Before being placed in the police vehicle, his clothing and belongings were searched and nothing was found. Nevertheless, upon his arrival at the police station, he was subjected to a full strip search. When he told the officers that the search was unlawful, he was told that if he refused, an officer would forcibly remove his underwear. The search was conducted in a room with interior windows through which he could be observed, and he was also not provided with a search report, as required. That June, the Police Internal Investigations Department announced that it had decided to close the investigation into the complaint we filed on Greenberg’s behalf; ACRI is appealing the decision, and demanding that steps be taken to indict the police officers and officials responsible for ordering, approving, and conducting the search.
On October 8, 2026, ACRI appealed once again to the Attorney General, after the head of Jaffa’s Greek Orthodox community was subjected to a strip search after he criticized a police officer’s treatment of an electric bicycle rider. The strip searches are clearly not initiatives from individual, rogue police officers, but are being conducted pursuant to instructions. ACRI is demanding that the Attorney General instruct the police, clearly and unequivocally, to immediately cease conducting unlawful strip searches, rescind any instructions authorizing strip searches that are against the law, and take firm disciplinary action against the commanding officers responsible for issuing the instructions and the police officers involved in the strip searches.
For a full list of legal correspondence, see here (Heb).
