The Israeli military said it has dropped all charges against five soldiers who were accused of violently sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee in a military detention facility, triggering outrage among activists and human rights experts.
The decision effectively closes the case, despite footage of the assault at the notorious Sde Teiman facility garnering international condemnation.
The incident occurred on 5 July 2024, where reports detail that the soldiers stabbed the detainee with a sharp object in his rectum, causing him cracked ribs, an internal tear and a punctured lung that required him to be transferred to hospital.
At the time, the footage was shown on Israeli television, and prompted the US State Department to denounce the allegations as “horrific” as well as call for an investigation of the sexual abuse.
The footage was authorised to be leaked to the Israeli Channel 12 by Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned last year and was later arrested on charges of fraud, breach of trust and obstruction of justice after the video was widely condemned internationally.
Muhammad Shehada, the Euro-Med Monitor rights group chief of programmes, slammed the dropping of the charges.
“There isn’t a single case in modern history as obscene and outrageous as Israeli soldiers, who raped a Palestinian so violently on camera until his intestines exploded, being so widely celebrated, supported and shielded from accountability, while the very person that dared investigate them ending up on trial and under house arrest,” he told The New Arab.
“We’re not here talking about a case of a miscarriage of justice, we’re talking about soldiers who did this atrocity on camera and bragged about it on national television, then received overwhelming support for the government, religious leaders, media, the public and now the judiciary,” he continued.
At the time the footage was aired, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to decry the assault and instead referred to the footage leak as the worst “public relations attack” Israel has ever faced.
The arrest of the soldiers in 2024 also angered members of Israel’s far-right party, who are known for inflaming tensions and storming the detention facility.
“What’s even more outrageous is how little attention this issue has been given by mainstream media, and even the outlets that did cover it deliberately and severely downplayed the rape to mere “allegations of sexual abuse”,” Shehada added.
Some commentators called out media outlets for apparently downplaying the assault and accused the Israeli military of not carrying out a proper investigation.
“Israeli soldiers GANG RAPED a Palestinian captive ON CAMERA. This then triggered pro-rape RIOTS in Israel. Literally! This was one of the rare cases the IDF took up against their soldiers, clearly to deter the ICC from further arrest warrants. It was never going to be pursued,” writer Owen Jones posted on X.
“The AP sanitizing this with “accused of sexual abuse” when it was GANG RAPE ON CAMERA just shows you how much our media provides cover for Israel’s long list of human rights abuses,” US-based executive producer Ana Kasparian commented.
Human Rights group DAWN lambasted the decision to drop the charges on Friday, writing in a statement: “The politicisation of this case, for which the former chief prosecutor is still facing criminal charges while the alleged rapists walk free, should remove any doubt that the only prospect for accountability lies with international institutions and third states”.
Charles Blaha, a DAWN Senior Advisor, also said: “The United States is providing taxpayer-funded assistance to torturers, and the State Department cannot justify it.”
Amnesty International further criticised the Israeli decision, with the group’s senior Director for Research, Advocacy and Policy, Erika Guevara Rosas, stating: “This decision marks yet another unconscionable chapter in the Israeli legal system’s long-standing history of granting impunity to perpetrators of grave crimes against Palestinians. This, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s welcoming of the decision, illustrate the Israeli system’s “unwillingness or inability” to prosecute crimes under international law, stressing the urgent need for international justice as the only remaining avenue for Palestinians.”
