Israeli rape of detainees is the result of a society that sees Palestinians as ‘human animals’
Soldiers prevent protesters from entering the Beit Lid military base, 29 July 2024
Jonathan Ofir writes in Mondoweiss on 6 August 2024:
On August 3, Shaiel Ben-Ephraim shared an interview on social media with two Israeli security officials involved in the Sde Teiman torture facility, which has become a cause célèbre for right-wing protesters demanding the right of Israelis to gang rape Palestinian prisoners with impunity. Ben-Ephraim is an academic who left UCLA as a post-doctorate following allegations of sexual harassment. He describes himself as “Israel analyst. Fighting for liberal democracy. Fanatic Mets fan. Host of Israel Explained and History of the Land of Israel.”
Ben-Ephraim describes his two sources, saying that “the IDF source is quite high up. The other source is not but works there every day.”
The “IDF source” says: “The 100 unit has been assigned to guard the prisoners. Their job is supposed to be to intervene when there is disorder. They are rough people. So they are guarding the prisoners. You are letting animals guard animals without supervision and in nightmarish conditions.”
This is an interesting usage of the idea of “human animals,” a description first uttered during this genocide by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant on October 9, saying “we are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.”
The interviewed security personnel provide the emotional rationale for the sadistic torture enacted upon the Palestinians, it is a hate crime geared toward revenge. The “facility source” says: “Everyone who served in Gaza is full of hatred. They have an urge to release the animal in them. Anyone who is put in a room with those who raped their girlfriends or killed their friends without supervision – will get whatever we got.”
So they believe their girlfriends got raped or killed by Hamas. This doesn’t need any evidence as such, and it doesn’t matter whether those people whom they are torturing are involved in any way: “They all tell us they are innocent. So we don’t believe any of them. But yeah, some probably did nothing wrong.”
It is at this point worth remembering Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s claim from October 14 that there are simply no “uninvolved civilians” in Gaza.
The “facility source” knows this is bad and that it shouldn’t be done, but “things happen”: “Things happen. Bad things. People have been beaten. People have been killed. I saw one person die. People have been sexually assaulted. Yes. Nothing compared to what they did. But we all know we shouldn’t be doing it.”
To date, at least 36 Palestinians have died under torture in this facility. But somehow, it doesn’t compare, it’s “nothing compared to what they did.”
The murdered Palestinians are kept in refrigerators at the base. The “IDF source” says: “Another thing nobody talks about is all the bodies in fridges near the holding pens. There is no place to store them. Just containers full of dead bodies of inmates.”
And there is simply no oversight: “There is not a single security officer on sight to oversee. So that even if there is a major event no one is responsible.”
The level of sadism enacted upon Palestinians really defies description. Palestinians are now coming forth with the most graphic details about their sexual torture, like this victim on video (trigger warning):