Understanding the mindset behind Israel’s usage of rape as a weapon of genocide
Israelis cheer two of the five Israeli soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention center, during a court hearing in Jerusalem on 10 November 2025
Jonathan Ofir writes in Mondoweiss on 17 November 2025:
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) recently released a report documenting the testimonies of Palestinian rape victims who were recently released from Israeli torture camps and returned to Gaza. The testimonies are beyond horrific. They include stories of the repeated rape of women and men, the penetration of victims’ anuses, vaginas, and mouths with human sexual organs, as well as the repeated insertion of items like sticks and bottles, and even the use of dogs trained to sexually penetrate humans.
The testimonies are shocking and nearly impossible to read, but essential for us to understand. Both so that we can honor the victims of Israel’s horrible crimes, but also so we can understand the Israeli mindset that leads to such actions.
“PCHR affirms that the testimonies do not reflect isolated incidents but constitute a systematic policy practiced in the context of the ongoing crime of genocide against more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including thousands of detainees held in prisons and military camps closed to international monitoring bodies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the report reads.