they also relieved ISA agents of any criminal responsibility for unauthorized use of these methods as long as they “acted ‘in the proper circumstances,’" without demarcating what these circumstances could be.220 The result has often been that ISA agents act with impunity – of the more than seven hundred complaints alleging ISA abuse of interrogees filed between 2001 and 2011, none have been investigated.221 The widespread use of torture and ill-treatment during interrogation is facilitated by the failure of the Israeli HCJ to prohibit any use of physical pressure to force a confession and to disallow information extracted through torture admissible in courts and military tribunals.222 The prevalence of torture and ill-treatment as a tool employed by Israel to curb Palestinian political participation through incarcerating or intimidating large numbers of Palestinians provides yet more evidence that its employment is a ubiquitous and systematic state policy.223 Force-feeding Force-feeding is a brutal process that is medically dangerous. According to Physicians for Human Rights: “The procedure is generally done using a rubber or plastic feeding tube, which is inserted into the stomach through the mouth or nose. Sometimes the feeding is provided directly into a vein or into the stomach via an opening cut into the abdominal wall. All these methods are invasive and carry immediate risks of mechanical damage to surrounding tissues… This mechanical damage causes pain and bleeding and can lead to infection.”224 Israel’s first use of force-feeding to break prisoners’ hunger strikes occurred in the 1980s, but was eventually stopped by the Israeli High Court after several prisoners died from the procedure. In 2012, however, a mass prisoner hunger strike prompted the Israeli Knesset to propose legislation to once again legalize force-feeding. This legislation was finally passed on 30 July 2015.225 220 B’Tselem, Torture and ill-treatment as perceived by Israel’s High Court of Justice, 1 January 2011. Available at: http://www.btselem.org/torture/hcj_ruling 221 B’Tselem, Torture and abuse under interrogation, Failure to investigate alleged cases of ill-treatment and torture, 1 January 2011. Available at: http://www.btselem.org/torture/impunity 222 Addameer, The Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees, 31 December 2009. Available at: http://www.addameer.org/publications/torture-and-ill-treatment-palestinian-detainees 223 B’Tselem, Torture and abuse under interrogation, background, last update: 29 March 2016. Available at: http://www.btselem.org/torture 224 Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Forced Feeding Fact Sheet: things you need to know, 27 July 2015. Available at: http://www.phr.org.il/en/forced-feeding-fact-sheet-things-need-know/ 225 Addameer, Factsheet: Force-feeding under International Law and Medical Standards, op. cit., 16 November 2015 61