No to Masked Soldiers in the West Bank
- ACRI
- Nov 24, 2025
- 1 min read
On November 24, 2025, ACRI sent an appeal the Commander of the Central Command, the Legal Advisor for Judea and Samaria, and the Military Advocate General, with the demand that soldiers be prohibited from carrying out routine policing activities against civilians in the West Bank with their faces covered. In the appeal, Attorney Reut Shaer, Director of the Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Department, noted that it has become increasingly common for soldiers to be masked and to refuse to identify themselves.
A masked soldier creates a sense of impunity and encourages violations of the law by those meant to be enforcing it. It also prevents people who have been harmed from filing a complaint, and blocks any real possibility of holding the perpetrator accountable. When it comes to an armed force operating within occupied territory whose role, in accordance with international law, is to protect the civilian population, masking intensifies the imbalance of power. Especially as violence has increased in the West Bank, sometimes perpetrated by soldiers, it is especially important that any armed forces operate in a way that increases residents’ basic sense of security. The military has a legal and moral obligation to treat the protected residents with dignity and to safeguard their rights under international law, as well as to operate with the caution, reasonableness, and proportionality that apply under Israeli law.
The appeal demands the publication of a clear directive prohibiting soldiers from covering their faces when exercising policing powers toward civilians.
ACRI’s appeal, November 24, 2025 (Heb)
