Month: August 2024

Israeli media has published footage purportedly showing the moment soldiers in an infamous detention facility raped a Palestinian detainee.

Late last month, nine Israeli soldiers were arrested for the alleged rape of a Palestinian detained in Sde Teiman, a facility in southern Israel’s Negev desert.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, many Palestinians detained by Israeli forces have said they were sexually abused by troops at Sde Teiman.

However, no one had been arrested for the abuse until 29 July, when military police raided the facility, clashed with the soldiers and took them into custody.

The incident created a backlash in Israel, with a far-right mob, that included an MP and minister, storming the detention centre and a military court in protest against the arrests.

On Tuesday, Channel 12 released a video reputedly of the moment the Palestinian was sexually abused.

He was taken to a field hospital at Sde Teiman with “a ruptured bowel, a severe injury to his anus, lung damage and broken ribs”, according to media reports.

The footage released by Channel 12, taken from evidence used in the investigation, shows detained Palestinians lying on the floor with their hands and eyes covered.

A group of reserve soldiers are then seen taking one of the detainees aside, then trying to hide their subsequent actions with riot shields.

The reservists are members of Force 100, a unit tasked with guarding the prisoners in Sde Teiman.

According to Channel 12, the suspects in the case were found to be lying on a polygraph test.

Two suspects were asked two identical questions: “Did you insert an object into the Palestinian’s anus during a search? and “Are you hiding the identity of the person who inserted an object into the Palestinian’s anus?”

The suspects answered in the negative to both questions, with the examiner finding them both to be lying.

“During the examination, an unnatural breathing pattern was observed, which continued despite my repeated comments,” the examiner wrote, according to Channel 12.

“This pattern raises a very strong suspicion of deliberate attempts to disrupt the examination records.”

About 4,000 Palestinians have been detained from Gaza in Israel since October. Most are detained and interrogated in the enclave, but many are brought to Sde Teiman, even if they are a non-combatant.

Torture, rape and murder have all been reported as rife at the facility, one of several facilities where Palestinians have been mistreated for decades.

On 15 July, Israel’s High Court issued a conditional order seeking to close Sde Teiman in response to the reports of abuse there.

The court’s order seeks an explanation as to “why the Sde Teiman detention facility is not operated in accordance with the conditions set forth in the law governing internment of unlawful combatants”.

Investigations by Middle East Eye, CNN and the New York Times found widespread examples of abuse at the centre.

Israeli media has published footage purportedly showing the moment soldiers in an infamous detention facility raped a Palestinian detainee.

Late last month, nine Israeli soldiers were arrested for the alleged rape of a Palestinian detained in Sde Teiman, a facility in southern Israel’s Negev desert.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, many Palestinians detained by Israeli forces have said they were sexually abused by troops at Sde Teiman.

However, no one had been arrested for the abuse until 29 July, when military police raided the facility, clashed with the soldiers and took them into custody.

The incident created a backlash in Israel, with a far-right mob, that included an MP and minister, storming the detention centre and a military court in protest against the arrests.

On Tuesday, Channel 12 released a video reputedly of the moment the Palestinian was sexually abused.

He was taken to a field hospital at Sde Teiman with “a ruptured bowel, a severe injury to his anus, lung damage and broken ribs”, according to media reports.

The footage released by Channel 12, taken from evidence used in the investigation, shows detained Palestinians lying on the floor with their hands and eyes covered.

A group of reserve soldiers are then seen taking one of the detainees aside, then trying to hide their subsequent actions with riot shields.

The reservists are members of Force 100, a unit tasked with guarding the prisoners in Sde Teiman.

According to Channel 12, the suspects in the case were found to be lying on a polygraph test.

Two suspects were asked two identical questions: “Did you insert an object into the Palestinian’s anus during a search? and “Are you hiding the identity of the person who inserted an object into the Palestinian’s anus?”

The suspects answered in the negative to both questions, with the examiner finding them both to be lying.

“During the examination, an unnatural breathing pattern was observed, which continued despite my repeated comments,” the examiner wrote, according to Channel 12.

“This pattern raises a very strong suspicion of deliberate attempts to disrupt the examination records.”

About 4,000 Palestinians have been detained from Gaza in Israel since October. Most are detained and interrogated in the enclave, but many are brought to Sde Teiman, even if they are a non-combatant.

Torture, rape and murder have all been reported as rife at the facility, one of several facilities where Palestinians have been mistreated for decades.

On 15 July, Israel’s High Court issued a conditional order seeking to close Sde Teiman in response to the reports of abuse there.

The court’s order seeks an explanation as to “why the Sde Teiman detention facility is not operated in accordance with the conditions set forth in the law governing internment of unlawful combatants”.

Investigations by Middle East Eye, CNN and the New York Times found widespread examples of abuse at the centre.

The American and British ambassadors to Japan have announced they will skip an upcoming ceremony commemorating the victims of the US’s 1945 atomic bombing because the city’s mayor did not invite the Israeli ambassador. 

The Russian and Belarusian ambassadors have also been excluded from the event this Friday by Japanese authorities.

The Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony is intended to mark the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima that killed tens of thousands of Japanese civilians, with many more later dying from radiation poisoning. 

The attacks in August 1945 preceded Japan’s unconditional surrender to the US and the end of the Second World War. 

Julia Longbottom, the UK’s ambassador to Japan, told local reporters that Israel is exercising self-defence in Gaza and should not be treated in the same way as Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

In late July, the UK dropped its objection to an International Criminal Court application for arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The American embassy said that Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador, does not want to politicise the Nagasaki event by attending. 

Emanuel, who was White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama, was born to an Israeli father who was at one point a member of Jewish paramilitary group Irgun. 

It is understood that Emanuel will attend a separate memorial service for the victims at a temple in Tokyo, while the US consulate will send a different representative to the Nagasaki event instead.

‘Political motivations’

Nagasaki’s mayor, Shiro Suzuki, said last week that Israel was not invited to the memorial event because of “the risk of unexpected incidents during the ceremony”.

“I would like to emphasise that this decision was not based on political considerations, but rather on our desire to hold the ceremony to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombings in a peaceful and solemn atmosphere, and to ensure that the ceremony goes smoothly.”

But Gilad Cohen, Israel’s ambassador in Tokyo, hit back on Monday, accusing the mayor of “inventing” security concerns.

“I am really surprised by him hijacking this ceremony for his political motivations.”

Cohen added that Iran has been invited to the ceremony, saying the move was the “opposite message that should be sent to the free world and to civilisation”.

The Israeli ambassador attended a memorial event in Hiroshima on Tuesday. 

During Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, multiple ministers and officials have advocated using a nuclear bomb on Gaza, turning the enclave into a “slaughterhouse” and “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth”. 

South Africa has argued these statements are evidence of genocidal intent in its ongoing case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, a charge which Israel denies.

The death toll in Gaza since October 2023 has topped 39,677, with more than 91,645 wounded and an estimated 10,000 missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

According to the medical journal Lancet, the death toll could exceed more than 186,000 when all war-related deaths are taken into account.

Health officials report that around 70 percent of the victims in Gaza are children and women.

The American and British ambassadors to Japan have announced they will skip an upcoming ceremony commemorating the victims of the US’s 1945 atomic bombing because the city’s mayor did not invite the Israeli ambassador. 

The Russian and Belarusian ambassadors have also been excluded from the event this Friday by Japanese authorities.

The Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony is intended to mark the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima that killed tens of thousands of Japanese civilians, with many more later dying from radiation poisoning. 

The attacks in August 1945 preceded Japan’s unconditional surrender to the US and the end of the Second World War. 

Julia Longbottom, the UK’s ambassador to Japan, told local reporters that Israel is exercising self-defence in Gaza and should not be treated in the same way as Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

In late July, the UK dropped its objection to an International Criminal Court application for arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The American embassy said that Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador, does not want to politicise the Nagasaki event by attending. 

Emanuel, who was White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama, was born to an Israeli father who was at one point a member of Jewish paramilitary group Irgun. 

It is understood that Emanuel will attend a separate memorial service for the victims at a temple in Tokyo, while the US consulate will send a different representative to the Nagasaki event instead.

‘Political motivations’

Nagasaki’s mayor, Shiro Suzuki, said last week that Israel was not invited to the memorial event because of “the risk of unexpected incidents during the ceremony”.

“I would like to emphasise that this decision was not based on political considerations, but rather on our desire to hold the ceremony to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombings in a peaceful and solemn atmosphere, and to ensure that the ceremony goes smoothly.”

But Gilad Cohen, Israel’s ambassador in Tokyo, hit back on Monday, accusing the mayor of “inventing” security concerns.

“I am really surprised by him hijacking this ceremony for his political motivations.”

Cohen added that Iran has been invited to the ceremony, saying the move was the “opposite message that should be sent to the free world and to civilisation”.

The Israeli ambassador attended a memorial event in Hiroshima on Tuesday. 

During Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, multiple ministers and officials have advocated using a nuclear bomb on Gaza, turning the enclave into a “slaughterhouse” and “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth”. 

South Africa has argued these statements are evidence of genocidal intent in its ongoing case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, a charge which Israel denies.

The death toll in Gaza since October 2023 has topped 39,677, with more than 91,645 wounded and an estimated 10,000 missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

According to the medical journal Lancet, the death toll could exceed more than 186,000 when all war-related deaths are taken into account.

Health officials report that around 70 percent of the victims in Gaza are children and women.