Sexual assaults, rape and torture of Palestinian women, children and men in Israeli prisons
This post is inspired by the report released today by the UN/OHCHR which reported credible allegations from Palestinian women and girls, about sexual assault and rape in Israeli prisons or detentions.
A quote from the report:
“We are particularly distressed by reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence,” the experts said. They also noted that photos of female detainees in degrading circumstances were also reportedly taken by the Israeli army and uploaded online.”
This is absolutely not the first instance of alleged sexual abuse, assault or rape of Palestinians in Israeli prisons or detentions. There is a history of cases against children as well.
A report from DCI-Palestine from 2010 reported the following:
“[Ramallah, 18 May 2010] — On 18 May 2010, DCI-Palestine submitted 14 cases to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture for investigation. The submission relates to the sexual assault, or threat of sexual assault, of Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli soldiers, interogators and police between January 2009 and April 2010. The ages of the children range from 13 to 16 years. […] DCI-Palestine has reviewed 100 sworn affidavits collected from children in 2009, and in four percent of cases, children report being sexually assaulted, whilst in 12 percent of cases, the children report being threatened with sexual assault. The sexual assault and threats of sexual assault documented by DCI-Palestine include grabbing boys by the testicles until they confess and threatening boys as young as 13 years with rape unless they confess to throwing stones at Israeli settler vehicles in the occupied West Bank. DCI-Palestine suspects that these figures may understate the extent of the problem.
Another case documented by DCI-Palestine:
“Ramallah, February 10, 2021 — An Israeli interrogator allegedly physically and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in Israeli custody during interrogation in mid-January at a Jerusalem detention facility.
The 15-year-old boy* was detained by Israeli paramilitary border police forces from his home around 5 a.m. on January 13, 2021, in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. Israeli forces transferred him to Al-Mascobiyya interrogation and detention center in West Jerusalem where he was bound and blindfolded and detained in an interrogation room. An individual accused him of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and then allegedly subjected the boy to physical and sexual violence amounting to torture, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International — Palestine.”
Another report, from AF3IRM, states:
“In its reports, AF3IRM compiled multiple press sources and firsthand accounts from Palestinian prisoners.
“I left little girls in my prison cell crying. Why? Because unspeakable things are happening to them there… Unimaginable things at the hands of the [Israeli] soldiers,” Israa Ja’abis said upon her release from an Israeli jail.
Freed prisoner Lama Khater also said that she was blindfolded and threatened with rape as a form of intimidation against her.
The report cited another freed female prisoner as saying that “over 15 Palestinian women were sexually assaulted” by Israeli forces who sought to force a confession out of them.
The occupying regime’s forces even keep videotapes of the raping to blackmail the abductees following their release, according to the report.
AF3IRM noted that even male prisoners were sexually abused, adding that sex trafficking is “an elevated threat for Palestinians.”
And this report from OMCT (SOS-Torture network) goes back to 2002 with these revelations:
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by LAW (the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment), a member of the OMCT network, that Palestinian female political prisoners have been sexually harassed by Israeli guards in the Neve Tertze women’s prison in Ramle. According to the information received, their conditions have dramatically worsened over the past few months. Amna Musa, a representative for the Palestinian female prisoners told LAW’s attorney Fahmi Shkirat that they will start a hunger strike if their conditions are not improved.
There are 24 Palestinian female political prisoners in Ramle prison, including seven under the age of 18. They are held in four cells. One of the female prisoners, Intissar Ajouri, is being held in solitary confinement. She has been sentenced to six months administrative detention. The female prisoners are isolated and deprived of communication with their families.
The female prisoners complain about degrading body searches. They have been forced to take off all their clothes, while some of the prison guards have touched their bodies in a degrading and insulting way. When a Palestinian female prisoner resists the degrading search, she is forced to undress after being handcuffed. Sometimes she will be threatened that she will be forced to undress by other guards.
972 Mag with a story from december 2023, that also mention sexual abuse and torture:
Testimonies gathered by +972 Magazine from Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in recent weeks — both as part of the ceasefire agreement and independently of it — paint a picture of a surge in abuse and humiliation inside prison cells, in interrogation rooms, and during arrests. According to these testimonies, Israeli forces and prison authorities have used methods of torture, threatened to rape a female detainee and her young daughter, and beaten a prisoner to death — one of six Palestinians known to have died in Israeli custody since October 7.
These are some of a few testimonies and reports that can be found online. There is a clear history of sexual abuse, not only towards women but also men and children. Considering the time period and extent, these are not fringe events.
This is systematic and borderline to policy.
As the calls from feminist around the world argued, “believe the israeli women who were raped by Hamas”, the same logic should be applicable to the Palestinian victims, raped and abused by the Israeli State. Anything else would be hypocrisy of highest degree.
Under no circumstance can one argue or claim “but its different..”
Sources:
