B'Tselem was established in February 1989 by a large group of Israeli lawyers, doctors and academics with the support of a lobby of ten members of Knesset.
Its objective was to document human rights violations in the occupied territories (Gaza Strip and the West Bank), while being committed to the security and humanistic character of the State of Israel.
[10] In 2016, B'Tselem executive director Hagai El-Ad asked the UN to take action against Israel's settlements, which he said were compromising a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
[11] In a report published 12 January 2021, B'Tselem called Israel an "apartheid regime" devoted to Jewish supremacy and said the nation was no longer a democracy.
[13] Several years before B'Tselem was founded, David Zucker, Knesset member for the Ratz party, began publishing information pages about several topics, including Israeli involvement in the territories.
[16][17] Some of the key founders were: In 2015 The Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler described the link between human rights groups and "political entities" in Israel as "at times... very blurry."
[19][20][21] In January 2021, B'Tselem released a report characterizing Israel as an "apartheid" regime, a term the organization had hitherto only used in specific contexts, and which the Israeli government vehemently rejects.
B'Tselem director Hagai El-Ad said of the report: "One of the key points in our analysis is that this is a single geopolitical area ruled by one government.
[24][25] B'Tselem's international advocacy Sarit Michaeli asserted that these abuses were not the work of "rogue elements" but were endorsed by the Israeli government and prison system.
[26][27][28] B'tselem stated that the "magnitude of the crimes Israel is currently committing [...] is impossible to describe" and reported dire conditions in North Gaza including starvation, bombings, and lack of medical care.
[32] B'Tselem describes itself as an independent NGO, "funded by contributions from foundations in Europe and North America... and by private individuals in Israel and abroad", and by the governments of some EU countries and the European Commission.
In a speech to fellow members of his right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel our home") party he said such groups "are clearly not concerned with human rights.
[46] A response from the IDF from 1992 to a particular B'Tselem report on the activities of military undercover units remarked that "a large portion of the incidents cited are attributed to vague, anonymous sources – often rumors or stories gleaned from the press."
The IDF letter added that B'Tselem's report "ignores the prevailing situation in the area, in which armed, hard-core terrorists, who do not adhere to any code of law, have engaged in terror attacks."
In an incident that B'Tselem reported on at Idna, the IDF commented that a police investigation "found that an officer and several soldiers were apparently negligent in performing their duties and acted in an illegal manner."
"[51] In 2015, NGO Monitor said a B'Tselem report that accused Israel of violating international humanitarian law in the 2014 war against Hamas, contained "major omissions and distortions" and failed to "present definitive evidence that would justify the allegations".