[News] Israeli troops accused of gang raping Palestinian detainee released on house arrest

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Israeli troops accused of gang raping Palestinian detainee
released on house arrest

The Israeli military's investigation of soldiers who sodomized a
Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention camp is meant to protect
Israel from prosecution by international tribunals

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

AUG 13, 2024 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-troops-accused-of-gang-raping-palestinian-detainee-released-on-house-arrest
Blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility
on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Photo credit: Breaking
The Silence via AP)

The Israeli military attorney’s office and defense lawyers agreed on the
release to house arrest of the five soldiers accused of raping a
Palestinian man in the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp, *Haaretz*
reported
<https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/war-2023/2024-08-13/ty-article-live/00000191-4866-dfc4-afd5-e8ee2b120000?liveBlogItemId=1946609636#1946609636>
on 13 August.

The Israeli army spokesman said the five soldiers will be released to house
arrest for 10 days and that during this period, they will be referred to a
review by the Probation Service.

At the end of the investigation next week, a hearing procedure will be held
for the suspects, similar to the one conducted before the filing of an
indictment.

The lawyers from the military defense argued that house arrest was
appropriate for the soldiers because of the time it would take to review
the case and because the soldiers do not pose a threat to the public.

On 8 August, a leaked
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2024/aug/08/israeli-media-alleged-sexual-abuse-palestinian-detainee-video>
surveillance video from Sde Teiman was broadcast on Israeli news network
Channel 12, showing the Israeli soldiers gang-raping the Palestinian man.

Yoel Donchin, the doctor who treated the detainee, told
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-30/ty-article/.premium/doctor-who-saw-abused-gazan-detainee-i-couldnt-believe-an-israeli-jailer-could-do-this/00000191-0436-df85-a399-ed36f4800000>
*Haaretz* he suffered from “a ruptured bowel, a severe injury to his anus,
lung damage and broken ribs.”

Members of the Knesset <https://x.com/GeminaTeed/status/1818234867164873063>
and Hebrew media <https://x.com/ireallyhateyou/status/1821121616094412908>
have strongly criticized the military for detaining the soldiers, arguing
that it is morally acceptable to do anything to Hamas fighters, including
rape.

Military police officers who arrested the soldiers have faced death threats.

Israel’s military advocate general, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi
responded to criticism over the arrests by saying they were crucial for
shielding Israel from war crimes charges in international courts and
ensuring continued weapons deliveries from the US and European nations.

Tomer-Yerushalmi told
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/military-ag-arresting-officers-at-sde-teiman-wore-masks-as-they-face-dozens-of-threats/>
a Knesset committee on 11 August that the independence of the military
justice system is “essential to the state’s arguments in international
tribunals.”

The officer noted that “there are countries for which the question of
whether they sell and supply us with munitions is [determined by] whether
we investigate when we receive a complaint.”

Israel is almost completely reliant on foreign countries, most notably the
US, for the weapons needed to continue its military campaign in Gaza.

The Israeli government is facing charges of committing genocide against
Palestinians in Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
have been accused of committing war crimes in Gaza by the International
Criminal Court (ICC). Chief prosecutor Karim Khan applied for the ICC to
issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in May, but the ICC has yet
to do so.

*The* *Washington Post* noted
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/08/12/israel-gaza-smotrich-starvation-crimes/>
in August, “More than ten months of relentless Israeli bombardment have led
to almost 40,000 people killed, tens of thousands more missing, much of
Gaza flattened, disease spreading and famine conditions in parts of the
territory.”
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