The torture didn’t surprise me. The reported rape didn’t surprise me.
Nor was I unduly surprised to hear that their supporters – including members of the Knesset – broke into jail to free them.
What surprised me was that Israeli soldiers were actually in jail, charged with a crime against a Palestinian.
The detainee was in the the Sde Teiman – a prison dubbed a torture camp by Gazans who survive the regime.
The Palestinian was hospitalised after serious sexual abuse which involved injuries to his anus, bowel and ribs that left him unable to walk (as reported in a Sky News article of August 9th 2024).
A video of the assault was released but, far from deploring the soldiers’ behaviour, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded an immediate criminal investigation to locate the leakers. Others, including Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, say that any action – even gang rape – is permissible if it’s done for the security of the state.
For decades Israeli soldiers and settlers have carried out assaults on Palestinians in the occupied territories with impunity. Occasionally an incident ripples the surface of the media pool and the Israeli authorities promise an investigation, then it’s quickly forgotten.
Even more occasionally a soldier actually serves time. In 2016 Sgt Elor Azaria served nine months for manslaughter. He shot an unarmed, injured assailant as he lay on the ground. Azaria is treated like a hero and lives a life of luxury. The army even awarded him a gift of $6,870 on his release. This is what Israeli society by and large thinks of due process.
Compare this with the harsh sentences Palestinian children get for throwing stones.
But is this all about to come to an end?
New Zealand now requires Israeli tourists to report details of their military service as a condition for entry, and at least one person has been denied admission after doing so, according to The Times of Israel.
Israeli soldier Yuval Vagdani’s holiday in Brazil ended abruptly when an arrest warrant was issued – he’d posted videos of himself committing war crimes. He fled the country.
And of course, the world’s highest courts have taken unprecedented action. The International Court of Justice is investigating a charge of genocide against Israel, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity.
Or is it a case that Plus ça change…….. plus c'est la même chose!
(the more things change, the more they stay the same)
Bibi may be a wanted man but he was received as an honoured guest in Washington and President Trump wants to make all his dreams come true. The ethnic cleansing of Gaza will be completed and the strip will become a beachfront playground for the rich. The West Bank will be annexed to Israel.
It all sounds crazy – completely implausible, impossible.
But such things have already happened. Israel has been riding roughshod over international law ever since its inception.
Around three-quarters of a million Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes as Israel was being set up. They and their descendants all enjoy the Right of Return under international law but not one has been allowed to go home. The international community has done nothing.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967. International law says you may not keep land acquired by force of arms but Israel still occupies the Golan. She’s even helped herself to more of Syria since the Assad regime fell, about which nobody seems at all bothered.
When Israel announces another settlement in the West Bank – a grave violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention (FGC) which forbids the transfer of populations – HM Government slaps the ambassador’s wrist and that’s the end of the matter.
Hundreds of thousands of homes, fruit trees and water sources have been destroyed in the occupied West Bank and people can’t access hospitals, universities and places of worship because of hundreds of Israeli checkpoints. All these are serious breaches of the rights of civilians as enshrined in the FGC.
Our mainstream media have misrepresented the situation by ignoring it for decades – seldom citing the context of Israel’s daily violations of International Humanitarian Law. They have allowed Israel to capture the narrative which portrays Palestinians as brutal terrorists. They have rarely pointed out the myriad injustices, humiliations, brutalities and deprivations they suffer at Israel’s hands. I was amazed to see a BBC journalist finally quoting the FGC this week (beginning Feb 2, 2025). Hallelujah!
And the Gaza strip a riviera for the rich? Ridiculous!
But take a look at the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim in the southern West Bank. You will see an earthly paradise – green lawns, fountains and swimming pools. Look up and you realise you’re in the Judean desert where Palestinian residents outside the settlement are – illegally – starved of their own water.
So will we finally end Israeli impunity or will we let Trump and Netanyahu finally trash international law?
PS - a placard reading CV David Lammy/Foreign Secretary/complicity in war crimes/ genocide/ crimes against humanity ??
The Hind Rajab Foundation very very hopeful. But also, yesterday's report in the Guardian of the two FCO diplomats who have resigned, because the UK was so clearly in breach of international law with its arms sales. I don't think this will go away. I think our letters to David Lammy should warn him that war crimes will stick to his CV the way Iraq still sticks to Blair.....
Sadly Israel has enjoyed 75 years of impunity, and I don't see any reason to believe this is going to change.
Thank you for this article. It is so important to document what has been happening and thanks to CAMPAIN for ensuring that the institutions of this country are challenged on their hypocrisy and complicity in the crimes committed against the Palestinians over the last century.
Excellent article Sharen. I wish we could stop the Zionist imperialist juggernaut but I don’t see any possibility of that happening ever.