Shin Bet did not have the authority, even under the defense of "necessity," to employ such methods. This ruling was hailed as landmark against using torture on Palestinian prisoners. Shabak claims it now uses only psychological means, although B'Tselem and Amnesty International continue to accuse Shabak of employing physical methods that amount to torture under international conventions. In 2015, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel noted that petitions against Shin Bet had quadrupled since 2012, and claimed that over the past several years of 850 complaints against Shin Bet for torture none had yet been investigated. It further claimed that no system of legal
Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service of the service. One tradition that was not maintained was the selection of the Chief from the ranks of the Royal Navy. Although Smith-Cumming and Sinclair both had long Navy careers, Army veteran Stewart Menzies was appointed over naval officer (and Churchill's preferred candidate) Gerard Muirhead-Gould. Plans to rotate the selection of Chief among the various branches of military service were considered, but most subsequent Chiefs have been career intelligence officers. Although the existence of the Secret Intelligence Service, much less its Chief, was not officially acknowledged until 1992, the role's reality was an open secret for many years. In