TITLE: UN report says Palestinian detainees in Israel subjected to torture, mistreatment
https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-report-says-palestinian-detainees-in-israel-subjected-to-torture-mistreatment/
EXCERPT: The UN human rights office issued a report Wednesday alleging that Palestinian detainees held by Israel since Hamas’s October 7 massacre have been subjected to torture, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, the release of dogs, and other forms of mistreatment.
The report, issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), alleged that 53 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody, noting that Israel’s Military Advocate General’s office has said it is investigating 35 deaths in custody and that announcements by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and prisoners organizations “indicate that 17 Palestinians have died in the custody of the IPS.”
The OHCHR document also accused Israeli authorities of using “arbitrary, prolonged and incommunicado detention” in holding Palestinian detainees, and has detained “a staggering number” of Palestinians since October 7 in Gaza and the West Bank, mostly men and adolescent boys but also including women, doctors, and those claiming to be journalists and human rights workers.
As of the end of June, Israel was holding more than 9,400 “security detainees,” some of whom have been held in secret without access to lawyers, the report said.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report, and referred The Times of Israel to the IDF, which has been responsible for the detention of most Palestinian suspects since October 7 when the war against Hamas in Gaza began.
The Israel Prison Service said in response that it operates in accordance with the law and under the oversight of official inspectors.
“All prisoners are held in accordance with the law while observing their basic rights, and under the supervision of professional and trained prison combatants,” the IPS said.
TITLE: Far-right lawmakers break into Israeli detention camp, protesting probe into soldiers’ alleged abuse of prisoner
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/29/middleeast/sde-teiman-protests-idf-investigation-intl/index.html
EXCERPTS: Protesters…broke into an Israeli military base in central Israel’s Beit Lid, police said, where several…soldiers being investigated for abuse were being questioned. The protesters were cleared out on Monday night after clashing with security forces.
The nine Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, who were working as guards at the base, are being investigated over the alleged “suspected substantial abuse” of a Palestinian prisoner who was held at the shadowy facility, where detainees from Gaza have allegedly been held under extreme conditions.
The Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) group told CNN that the alleged victim – a man in his thirties – was brought to one of Israel’s public hospitals earlier this month after being held at Sde Teiman.
In a CNN investigation released in May, Israeli whistleblowers as well as Palestinian former detainees and eyewitnesses described widespread abuse at Sde Teiman, including blindfolding, extreme physical restraint and prolonged handcuffing leading to severe injuries.
The Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) group, which has collated instances of alleged abuse at the base, told CNN that the alleged abuse victim arrived at an Israeli hospital around three weeks ago in life-threatening condition.
He had injuries to his upper body and his rectum, according to the group.
PHRI said it had raised concern about similar allegations at the base in the past, but that this incident came to light and prompted an investigation because the alleged victim was taken to a public hospital away from the detention center.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the PHRI’s allegations.
The announcement of the investigation angered figures on Israel’s far-right, including members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin said Monday he was “shocked” to see IDF troops being detained for questioning “in a way that is suitable for arresting dangerous criminals,” and said they were doing a “holy job” at the base.
And far-right Knesset member Simcha Rotman called the troops “heroes,” attacking Israel’s “justice and enforcement systems” for pursuing them.
“The break-in at the Sde Teiman Base is extremely serious and against the law,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the IDF’s Chief of the General Staff, said in a statement Monday, adding that the military was “working to restore order at the base.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid also condemned the breach, criticizing the “dangerous criminality of (Knesset members) who weaken and dismantle the IDF, weaken and dismantle the state of Israel, gnawing away at the foundations of our power from within.”
TITLE: As protesters back troops accused of abuse, a debate erupts on military morality in war
https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-protesters-back-troops-accused-of-abuse-a-debate-erupts-on-military-morality-in-war/
EXCERPT: The controversy surrounding the arrests of the soldiers is more than just a legal issue; it touches on the core of Israel’s identity and its moral obligations, said Eliyahu Yosian, a former intelligence analyst whose calls to kill “at least 50,000 Gazans” in the days immediately after October 7 drew attention in Israel.
Yosian, who was born in Iran, appeared to have tapped into a popular sentiment in Israel after October 7, which dismissed the perceived niceties of international criminal law in favor of a response that he said was more authentically Middle Eastern.
The legal system, the military system, and the diplomatic system are “wronging those who fight for Israel,” Yosian told The Times of Israel at the protest Tuesday, where demonstrators greeted him enthusiastically and asked to pose with him for pictures.
The Sde Teiman affair shows the challenges of ensuring the concept of “purity of arms,” the moral codes that guide the IDF. But to Yosian, October 7 showed the irrelevance of that concept to the Israeli experience. The prosecution of Israel at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, he added, shows the code’s ineffectiveness in thwarting such legal attacks.
“How can you fight in the Middle East with Western European morals?” he demanded. “Look at Belgium, France. For their liberal values, they are losing their homeland,” Yosian said.
Asked if Israelis accept a reality where soldiers are given permission to emulate their enemies’ depravities, including the anal rape of prisoners, Yosian was unequivocal.
“My commitment to Israeli soldiers is far greater than my commitment to Hamas’s rectum.”
SEE ALSO:
‘Deep moral deterioration’ being normalised in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/30/deep-moral-deterioration-is-being-normalised-in-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict
Haaretz Today | To Be a Civilized Nation, Israel Must Acknowledge Its Own Barbarism
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/haaretz-today/2024-07-30/ty-article/.premium/to-be-a-civilized-nation-israel-must-acknowledge-its-own-barbarism/00000191-04b6-df85-a399-edb6e2860000