Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

der, or where the detainee possessed vital information, such as the lo-

cation of arms or caches of explosives for planned acts of terrorism

by a terrorist organization, which could not be uncovered by infor-

mation from any other source.

The commission also recognized the danger posed to the demo-

cratic values of the State of Israel should its agents abuse their power

by using unnecessary or unduly harsh forms of pressure. As a result,

the commission recommended that psychological forms of pressure

be used predominantly, and that only “moderate physical pressure,”

which was not unknown in other democratic countries, be sanctioned

in limited cases where the degree of anticipated danger was consider-

able. The commission was aware that the issue of moderate pressure

during interrogation was both serious and sensitive. The guidelines re-

garding interrogation provided for limited forms of pressure under

very specific circumstances, to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

To ensure that disproportionate pressure was not used, the Landau

Commission identified several principles, which were adopted. The

first was that disproportionate exertion of pressure on the suspect was

not permissible. That is, pressure must never reach the level of phys-

ical torture or grievous harm to the suspects that would deprive them

of their human dignity. The second principle was that the use of less

serious measures must be weighed against the degree of anticipated

danger, according to the information in the possession of the inter-

rogator. The third was that the physical and psychological means of

pressure permitted for use by an interrogator must be defined and

limited in advance, by issuing binding directives. The Landau Com-

mission also recommended external supervision of ISA activities.

After the Landau Commission issued its recommendations, the

state comptroller’s office launched an examination of the ISA inves-

tigation unit. Upon the completion of its inquiry, the findings were

submitted to a special subcommittee of the Knesset State Comptrol-

ler Committee. This finally paved the way to the passage by the

Knesset on 16 November 2002 of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA)

Lawregulating its activities.

LAPIDOT, YEHUDA (1928– ).Lapidot was born in Palestine as a Jew.

In 1943 he joined the Irgun underground militia and took part in covert

actions against the British mandatory forces, including an attack on the

LAPIDOT, YEHUDA• 155

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