Welcome to Hell: B'Tselem Ignored Abuse Report Shows Israel's True Face - Opinion - Haaretz.com
The B'Tselem report published this week, "Welcome to Hell," isn't only a report about what's happening in Israel's prison facilities; it's a report about Israel. Anyone who wants to know what Israel is should read this report before any other document about Israeli democracy.
Anyone who wants to become familiar with the spirit of the times in Israel should note how most of the media outlets ignored the report, which should have caused outrage and shock in Israel. Even the documentation of the gang rape reported this week by Guy Peleg on Channel 12 News didn't show only the Sde Teiman detention facility. It showed the face of the country.
If a report like that of B'Tselem was almost totally ignored here, and if even after the evidence shown by Peleg the debate as to whether it's permitted to detain the despicable soldiers presented in it continues – on the Channel 12 morning program there was a discussion of who's in favor of rape and who's opposed – then Peleg's documentation is documentation of the face of Israel 2024, its spirit and its likeness.
Unfortunately, even Peleg continued to call the victim of the barbaric rape a "terrorist" (after all, he does work for Channel 12 News), although a moment earlier he revealed that the rape victim wasn't a member of the Nukhba or a company commander – he was an ordinary policeman in the anti-drug unit in Jabalya. He was also pulled out from among dozens of detainees who were lying handcuffed on the floor, perhaps at random because he was the last one in the row. No violence and no riots, as the suspects' disingenuous lawyers tried to claim.
What exactly did that "terrorist" do? And why was he even in prison? Was it because his salary is paid by the government in the Gaza Strip? These are questions that shouldn't be asked. But the picture of his body that was trembling from the pains of the penetration, which flickered for an instant while the rapists hid behind their defenders, should have tortured every conscience.
Not the conscience of most Israelis, it turns out. On Tuesday, once again, a High Court of Justice hearing discussing the petition to close the torture facility Sde Teiman was interrupted, due to the shouts of the audience. "The people are sovereign," shouted the rabble at the High Court justices. Soon to come are the lynchings in the city squares, carried out by the sovereign and supported by the media. On the morning TV programs there will be discussions of the legitimacy of lynching. There will be a speaker in favor and a speaker who is opposed, in our balanced media.
A protester against Israel's policy of detention without trial holds a sign reading, 'Guantanamo is here,' in 2014. Credit: Emil Salman
An abusive husband can be charming, impressive, beloved by everyone who knows him and talented; if he beats his wife or his children – he's an abusive husband. This definition overshadows all other descriptions of him, his violence defines his identity. All his other characteristics are forgotten due to his violence.
Sde Teiman also defines Israel, more than its other characteristics. Israel is Sdei Teiman, Sde Teiman is Israel. That's also how they treated those suspected of sexual harassment in the Israeli #MeToo movement, which destroyed the careers and the lives of men who were only suspects. But the rapists from Sde Teiman? That's not an issue for #MeToo – they raped a "terrorist."
When you read the 94 pages of the B'Tselem report, which causes you to lose sleep, you understand that it wasn't an exceptional incident, it's the routine of torture, which has become a policy. As opposed to the torture by the Shin Bet, which presumably had a security-minded purpose – to extract information – here it's solely to satisfy the darkest and sickest sadistic urges. Look how calmly the soldiers approach to carry out their malevolent intention. There are dozens of other soldiers too, who saw and knew and remained silent. Apparently they also participated in similar orgies, based on the dozens of testimonies cited in the B'Tselem report. That's the routine.
The indifference to all these things defines Israel. The public legitimization defines Israel. In the Guantanamo Bay detention camp that was opened by the United States after the 9/11 attacks, nine prisoners were killed in 20 years; here it's 60 detainees in 10 months. Need anything more be said?