US covers up rapes in Israeli prisons while supplying more weapons – Liberation News

Amid ongoing daily crimes of genocide against the Palestinians, shocking video footage of a brutal gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner by IDF soldiers reinforced the moral depravity of the Israeli project and a significant portion of its society.

The Zionist and US governments have so vilified Hamas and so dehumanized the Palestinian people on the basis of completely disproven and completely false allegations that Palestinian liberation fighters committed mass rapes of Israeli women on October 7. Now the same government forces that are spreading the “Hamas mass rape” lie and denouncing it as outrageous are calling Israeli soldiers caught on video raping shackled Palestinian prisoners “heroic.”

Washington has publicly denounced the rapes of prisoners while calling on the Israeli government, which committed the rapes, to investigate itself. This serves as a cover for ongoing Israeli atrocities while the Pentagon increases both its arms sales to Israel and its own military presence in the Middle East.

Leaked security footage documents rapes

Leaked surveillance video In late July, Israeli television channel Channel 12 showed the gruesome violence against a Palestinian male prisoner held in Israel's notorious Sde Teiman detention center in the Negev desert. The video, captured by surveillance cameras, showed Israeli soldiers wearing face coverings, according to Channel 12. Choose a prisoner “from a larger group lying handcuffed on the ground. The victim is then led to a wall where the guards, who hide their identities from the camera with their shields, rape him.” The Palestinian prisoner, who could no longer walk, was discovered in critical condition and hospitalsuffered severe internal injuries, including broken ribs and an intestinal perforation. The exposure of such extreme violence sparked an uproar so that the Israeli military police forced to intervene. Nine IDF soldiers were arrested on July 29 for this crime.

Protests demand release of rapists

This video sparked waves of outrage around the world and documented another dimension of the moral depravity of the Israeli project. While the most appropriate response to such violence is outrage and demands for justice, a mob of right-wing Zionists, including Knesset members, surrounded Sde Teiman not to protest the crime but to call the raping soldiers “heroic warriors.”protest to demand their arrest and release. These rioters said that “IDF soldiers deserve respect and should not be treated like criminals.” These groups also disrupted a court hearing where the case was being heard. despite the clear reduction Due to pressure from right-wing Israeli politicians, the rapists were convicted.

Security and Justice Ministers Support Rapists

Such obscene views were applauded by far-right politicians such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who reached a new low by expressing the view that any act – even gang rape – is permissible if it is undertaken for the security of the state. He praised the rapists as “[Israel’s] best heroes.” Justice Minister Yariv Levin said “He was shocked when he saw gruesome images of arrested soldiers… and added that this was impossible to accept.” The normalization of rape reaches to the highest ranks of the Knesset. This is hardly surprising, considering that even 40,000 The number of Palestinians massacred is not high enough to constitute a red line or a crime against Israel.

These rapists were so emboldened by this support that an IDF soldier who was a rapist stepped forward, removed his mask, and identified himself. Social Media to justify this act international recognized crime. He even boasted “The days of our silence are over.” This was also broadcast on Israeli television.

No isolated cases

These rapes and other war crimes against Palestinian prisoners are not isolated cases. A UN special committee report In June, it said it was “appalled by the abuses against Palestinians in Israeli custody and the extent of impunity towards Israeli soldiers who engage in dehumanising, cruel and degrading behaviour towards Palestinians, including women and children.”

Sexual abuse and torture began with the Nakba

Such conditions did not begin on October 7, but went back to far like the Nakba in 1948. A 2015 study The authors concluded that sexual abuse and torture are systematically perpetrated against Palestinian boys and men and said the numbers are likely far higher than reported.

Eyewitness accounts and personal statements from Palestinians since October describe heinous systematic torture of prisoners by the Israeli forces, including rapes of prisoners with projectiles by male and female Israeli soldiers, some of the perpetrators being teenagers. They detailed “Frequent acts of severe and indiscriminate violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; enforced unsanitary conditions; sleep deprivation; prohibition and punishment of religious practice; confiscation of all communal and personal property; and denial of adequate medical treatment.” The UN report also noted that “men, women and even children [faced such threats and violence in addition to] Intimidation through the use of dogs by Israeli security forces.”

Israel's Abu Ghraib

Palestinian human rights groups Samidon And Al Mezan have described the abuses as reminds of the unspeakable abuse by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Both prisons saw unspeakable physical and psychological torture, including sexual assault and violations of religious rights – all methods inflicted on Palestinian prisoners. The barbarism is a clear example of the utter bankruptcy and depravity of both the Zionist project and its imperialist backers.

The Western mainstream media reported without exception on false allegations that Hamas committed a rape on October 7, despite a wealth of evidence against these allegations. This served as a cover for Israeli genocide. Netanyahu specifically praised those who spread the lies about “Hamas mass rapes” because they help legitimize and expand Israel’s war against Gaza.

In contrast, the same media barely reported on Israeli soldiers who were caught on video committing this inhumane crime against a prisoner and later justified it. There is little to no expression of outrage from Western governments and media institutions or from liberals who carried the torch against the Palestinian resistance after October 7. To this day, mainstream media reports on the daily genocides Israel is committing in Gaza are Foreword “It all started on October 7” with “horrific atrocities” that they said were committed by Hamas.

USA downplays rape as “worrying”

What was the US reaction? State Department spokesman Matthew Miller paid Paying lip service to the Palestinian rape victim when questioned about the situation, stating that the rape allegations are concerning but that the “reports should be fully investigated by the Israeli government,” thus encouraging the criminal to prosecute himself.

Washington sends more weapons for more atrocities

This is nothing more than a diversionary tactic by the US government to allow Israeli soldiers to do whatever they want without being held accountable. It is clear from the US response that Washington will not offer any real criticism of Israeli atrocities, no matter how inhumane they may be. In fact, the US has committed Last week, Israel provided an additional $3.5 billion in military funding and is sending an aircraft carrier group and a nuclear submarine to the Mediterranean to defend its genocidal apartheid satellite state. It is clear that the US wants to maintain its dominance in the Middle East through its relationship with Israel, no matter what crimes Israel commits.