Israeli media’s coverage of the rape of Palestinian detainees shows support for sexual violence in service of genocide [email protected] August 23, 2024 Media, prisoners, rape, Sde Teiman, torture Screen image from an Israeli Channel 12 report on the sexual assault and rape of a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman prison. (screen image) Israeli media coverage of the rape of Palestinian detainees demonstrates the widespread acceptance within Israeli society of sexual violence as a weapon of genocide. By Jonathan Ofir, reposted from Mondoweiss, August 12, 2024 Israel’s drama around the investigation of ten soldiers suspected of gang-raping a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman torture facility keeps reaching new lows. The reaction from Israelis, not just on the right, but also in the Israeli mainstream, has revealed a lust for sadistic revenge and an obsession with Hamas that is used to justify releasing all hell on Palestinians, including sexual abuse. In fact, the media coverage of events last week paints a grim and revealing picture of Israeli society. It began when the mainstream Israeli Channel 12 broadcasted a report concerning the gang rape case. The report features a segment from the security camera that caught the rape taking place — with three of the soldiers holding their shields up so as to obscure the crime from the camera. They knew exactly what they were doing. But beyond the harrowing aspect of the act itself is the nature of Channel 12’s report. A full fourth of the four-minute report dedicates itself to the scrutiny of whether the detainee was a “Nukhba” Hamas member — an elite fighter who participated in the October 7 attack. Such a focus reflects an obsession. It suggests that some people deserve to get gang-raped and have objects inserted into their anus, some less so. Let us see what Channel 12 says on this issue: “The terrorist that appears in the documentation did not participate in the massacre of October 7 and was not among the Nukhba forces. According to AMAN (military intelligence) information, he is a Hamas policeman who was involved in the drug-control department. In the intelligence report that was submitted in his case, it was written that despite this, he is counted with the force perpetrating acts of terror against Israel and it was emphasized that he represents a grave risk if released. Likewise, the terrorist was not arrested at the beginning of the war but in March. In contradiction to what was claimed, he was not a (military) Company Commander in Jabalia — the source of the mistake is in the interpretation of the initials — that is, not [military] M.P. [in Hebrew, military terminology stands for ‘Mefaked Pluga,’ or Company Commander], but rather M.P., which stands for ‘Mahane Plitim’ — refugee camp [in Hebrew] Jabalia.” So, let’s pause here to just reflect upon what was said – this is a civil servant, a policeman. But anyone remotely connected to Hamas is considered a terrorist, because Hamas is considered a terrorist organization. Actually, it doesn’t really matter for Israel, because like President Isaac Herzog said in October, there are simply no “uninvolved civilians” in Gaza; they are all involved with Hamas. But why is Channel 12 really going into all of this if it doesn’t make a difference? Channel 12 is a centrist channel and is the biggest news provider. By taking us through these details, it is distancing itself from the perpetrators and their defenders, who are mostly from the far right. The channel also aired interviews and unhinged statements of the gang rape suspects’ attorneys. One of the attorneys, Nati Rom, claims that the Israeli soldiers were acting in self-defense, as if it wasn’t a premeditated gang rape case at all: “He [the Palestinian detainee] tries to bite two soldiers, he tries to scratch another soldier, and when a taser is used on him he also resists, and attacks and scratches this soldier, and that’s why they are forced to use force in order to restrain him”. Another attorney, Adi Kedar, complains that “the military attorney office and military investigation unit are recruited fully, in a targeted and intentional way with all their forces … We are in a war — to invest all these resources for the sake of the rights of the terrorist against these ten heroes who really acted above and beyond, and against whom the suspicion is very very vague, it’s very disappointing, both at the legal level, as well as the personal level, and I hope this arrest will soon end.” Channel 12 gave the lawyers airtime for their egregious statements without comment — supposedly a neutral stance. As Tali Shapiro commented on social media: “According to Israeli media, what’s important in the rape case involving military personnel is not so much the rape but rather how much of a Nukhba the victim is.” Then, on Wednesday, Channel 14, the far-right channel which aired several snuff videos of these torture facilities earlier this year, featured a 10-minute interview with one of the rape suspects on its program, “The Patriots.” He is sitting there in an army uniform and a gun across his shoulder, with a black mask. The host begins by stating that the masked suspect is charged under the case with “the Nukhba terrorist, cursed be his name.” The suspect is complaining about what he sees as a witch-hunt and congratulates the right wing for rising up to protest it. He receives countless ovations. Asked about the security camera footage and the soldiers holding up the shields like that, he says this is just standard procedure. He chided Channel 12 and their journalist, Guy Peleg, for slandering the soldiers in the other mentioned report. This is an unbelievable sight to behold — here is a partially subtitled version in Middle East Eye. And imagine, this guy is calling for law and order. While hailing the right-wing protests of the arrest, he nonetheless urges them not to “break into camps,” because it “hurts our good name.” Another shocking development came the same day, during a Channel 12 morning news discussion. The Channel 12 journalist and panelist Yehuda Shlezinger commented on the gang rape case: “It interests my anus what they did to this Hamas person…From my perspective, the problem here is that it is not a regulated policy from the state to abuse prisoners. First of all — they deserve it. Maybe it will serve as deterrence.. It’s a worthy revenge, it’s just a pity that it’s not done in an institutional manner.” Later, Ynet published an article with a title suggesting that Shlezinger “apologized.” Here is his “apology”: “It was a mistake to say those things in a live broadcast. I was wrong. We need to get into them (sic), in the strongest possible manner, like I saw the heroic soldiers do it in Khan Younis, Jabalia, and Rafah … The terrorists need to be executed according to law. To let the state deal with them, to remember and to remind what Amalek did to you.” So, Shlezinger is now once again referring to the biblical Amalek story, suggesting total genocide down to babies and animals. This is his “apology.” By the way, the systematic abuse of prisoners is already established state policy — but not necessarily gang rape. Channel 12 tried to distance itself from Shlezinger’s views expressed on air. The production “regretted” the discussion and noted that it was said to Shlezinger that those things should not have been said. The host, Niv Raskin, said that he “distances himself from those sayings,” and that “it would have been right to do so in the broadcast itself” (which he didn’t do — the challenge to Shlezinger came from Haaretz journalist Josh Breiner). Raskin notes that “Shlezinger expressed remorse over the sayings and issued an apology.” But the “apology,” as we see, invokes genocide and is merely a regret of having advocated for rape on air. The broadcaster Keshet “unequivocally condemned the statements that were said today on live broadcast,” asking the production “not to invite Shlezinger to the morning program in the near future.” A day later, on Thursday, Middle East Eye released another testimony of a male Palestinian prisoner who was subject to rape, reporting on the systematic sexual abuse, but this time with an additional angle — female teenage soldiers raping men. It must be noted that the whole phenomenon of men testifying openly, with their name and on video, is something that had not existed pre-October 7. The shame related to such occurrences meant that, on the rare occasion where it was reported, it would be anonymous. But now we have seen a series of such testimonies, which demonstrates not only the systematic nature of the abuse but also the fact that these men are now willing to put their privacy and personal dignity aside to help change the reality for their brethren still undergoing the abuse on a daily basis. Ibrahim Salem, who was released last week after nearly eight months of detention, told Middle East Eye of his torture and interrogation at Sde Teiman (trigger warning): “I noticed that [the soldier] was glueing something on me. Then I started shaking. He was electrocuting me. He electrocuted me in sensitive spots and hit me in these spots.” The report continues: “Though it was rampant, inmates rarely spoke about it to each other, he said. It was embarrassing for many to admit, especially when they were raped by female soldiers, who were sometimes in their teens. It was common practice for soldiers to strip detainees naked, insert objects into their rectum and grab their genitals aggressively when they changed. When word got around that a prisoner in his 40s was raped, Salem kept getting close to him until he told him what happened to him. ‘He told me he was raped by a female soldier,’ Salem told Middle East Eye. When he asked him how it happened, the prisoner explained it would take place in the presence of another soldier in the room. The prisoner would be bent over a desk with his hands placed in front of him, handcuffed. The female soldier, standing behind him, would insert her fingers and other objects into his rectum. Salem said he was also touched in his private parts by a female soldier and had objects inserted in his rectum at some point.” Last week began with the Israeli human rights non-governmental organization B’tselem releasing a new report on Monday titled “Welcome to Hell – The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps,” which makes the point that Sde Teiman is “only the tip of the iceberg.” So everything above is not exceptional. It’s the product of a system. And this is partly why this one story of gang rape is making the headlines in Israel, although for various and opposing reasons. The right wing wants the story to be justified and to go away so that soldiers can continue abusing Palestinian detainees with impunity. The center and left mostly want it prosecuted so that it can be chalked up to a few “bad apples.” This was the case with the murder case of Elor Azarya in 2016 — where the medic-soldier shot an already incapacitated Palestinian suspect in the head at point-blank range. Azarya was also caught on video. Although what he did happened “tons of times,” according to his comrades, he was to serve as the “bad apple,” which in turn would prove the innocence of the system. Azarya’s trial was a sham, and he eventually returned home to a hero’s welcome after a nine-month prison term. This is roughly what we should expect here. The Israeli center needs to differentiate between the murdering Zionist, the gang-raping Zionist, and the liberal Zionist. But the rot is way too overwhelming. It won’t help to close down Sde Teiman. This story is about the systemic usage of sexual violence as a weapon of genocide. And Sde Teiman is just a reflection of Israeli society, a cog in a network of torture that reflects and replicates an overall rape culture. Jonathan Ofir is an Israeli musician, conductor and blogger / writer based in Denmark. RELATED ARTICLES: ‘I have the prison inside me’: The emaciated Palestinian bodybuilder broken by Israel The genocide in Israeli prisons How Israeli prison doctors assist in the torture of Palestinian detainees Palestinian Released From Israeli Prison Describes Beatings, Sexual Abuse and Torture The writing was on the wall for Israel’s torture of prisoners Israel’s torture and humiliation of female and male Gazan prisoners Hostages of Israeli revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 released Palestinian detainees reveal crimes of torture, cruel treatment https://israelpalestinenews.org/israeli-medias-coverage-of-the-rape-of-palestinian-detainees-shows-support-for-sexual-violence-in-service-of-genocide/