A shocking poll published on August 18 by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies surveys attitudes concerning various aspects of what Israel calls “Swords of Iron” — the genocide of the last ten months and counting.
The poll asks, among else, how people would want to handle the soldiers suspected of gang-raping Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman torture facility if it turned out that the suspicions were strong. 65%, almost two out of three Jewish Israelis, opposed criminal prosecution, and would prefer them be “handled in a disciplinary manner, by the commanding level only.”
The survey asked the question:
“Recently, the military prosecution requested to extend the arrest of the five soldiers suspected of gross abuse, and clarified that there is added evidence which strengthens the suspicion against them. In your opinion, if it turns out that there is basis for the suspicion against the suspects, in which way should they be handled?”
Only 21% of Jewish Israelis answered that “they should stand criminal trial”; 14% of Jewish Israelis didn’t know.
It is now clear, that the torture of Palestinians in this network of torture camps is systemic, as also documented by B’tselem in their report “Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps.” High brass is involved in this, so the idea that the gang rapists would be disciplined by their own commanders is tantamount to letting them off the hook. Two-thirds of Jewish Israelis are saying that there is simply nothing criminal here — only “bad behavior,” at worst.
And this seems to strengthen the pattern that has been documented: not only do Israelis seem to generally enjoy watching snuff videos of this systemic torture — they generally support the sexual violence, including rape, that has accompanied it. It confirms what we saw last week when Israeli journalist Yehuda Shlezinger lamented on Israel’s mainstream Channel 12 how gang rape is not an approved and regulated policy in Israeli detention centers.
That figure, 65%, also echoes the February poll saying that 68% of Jewish Israelis “oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents at this time,” even if Hamas or UNRWA were out of the picture in terms of distribution.
The same INSS poll citing the 65% opposing criminal prosecution of the gang rapists incidentally cites an identical percentage of Israeli Jews as having “high trust” in the reports of the military spokesperson “throughout the war in Gaza” — an institution which generates incessant genocide propaganda. It is unclear whether there is a linear overlap between the two — those who have “high trust” and those who oppose criminal prosecution of the gang rapists, but it wouldn’t be a surprise. They can trust the military to protect the rapists.
The full INSS survey in Hebrew is not on the English version of the site. There, they only offer a data tracker on six points, but it doesn’t include the Hebrew survey with its 23 points.
So this is yet another unbelievable data point — gang rape as a weapon of war is not considered criminal by two out of three Jewish Israelis when it’s Israeli soldiers doing it to Palestinians (in the much-publicized gang rape case, the victim happens to be a civil servant, a policeman for the drug control department in Jabalia).
When it comes to Palestinians, the blanket suspicion of affiliation with Hamas generates a rationale for revenge by which Palestinians are assumed to be involved with sexual violence, and when we speak about “disciplinary measures” here, it is not just systemic torture and sexual violence, it also reaches the level of murder through torture. In addition to wishing a “regulated policy” of rape existed in Israeli prisons, Shlezinger also advocated that the “terrorists” be “executed according to law.” And he shared that belief during his apology for his rape advocacy.
It is a whole other world of impunity for Israeli soldiers. There is almost nothing they can do to Palestinians that the Jewish Israeli public would consider criminal, and hardly any Israelis would consider them “human animals” for thinking like that.
Correction: The story originally incorrectly said that “28% of Jewish Israelis answered that ‘they should stand criminal trial.'” The correct percentage is 21%. The story has been updated.
Well, here it is: “The Radicalization of Israel’s Military – How the response to alleged abuse of Palestinian detainees reveals a wider ideological war within the I.D.F.”
This is an interview with Yehuda Shaul, co-founder of Breaking the Silence and Ofek: The Israeli Center for Public Affairs. ( delete New Yorker cookies if you have trouble getting access):
[NY] How does the storming of these bases fit into the history of right-wing attempts to undermine the rule of law in Israel?
[YS] First and foremost, we need to keep in mind that we have had settler violence in the West Bank for many years, and it has been rising for years without enforcement, or close to no enforcement. So the settler community has been living for decades in a reality where they can break laws. I’ll even take one step back and say they. entire settlement project is a project that is drowning in criminality.
The whole interview is worth reading.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-radicalization-of-israels-military
Here’s Ofek’s website: https://www.ofekcenter.org.il/eng/
Chris Hedges: Thou Shalt Not Commit Genocide
August 20, 2024
Genocide, the internationally recognized crime of crimes, is not a policy issue. It cannot be equated with trade deals, infrastructure bills, charter schools or immigration. It is a moral issue.
“There is only one way to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It is not through bilateral negotiations. Israel has amply demonstrated, including with the assassination of the lead Hamas negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh, that it has no interest in a permanent ceasefire.
The only way for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians to be halted is for the U.S. to end all weapons shipments to Israel.
And the only way this will take place is if enough Americans make clear they have no intention of supporting any presidential ticket or any political party that fuels this genocide.
The arguments against a boycott of the two ruling parties are familiar: It will ensure the election of Donald Trump. Kamala Harris has rhetorically shown more compassion than Joe Biden.
There are not enough of us to have an impact. We can work within the Democratic Party. The Israel lobby, especially the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which owns most members of Congress, is too powerful. Negotiations will eventually achieve a cessation of the slaughter.
In short, we are impotent and must surrender our agency to sustain a project of mass killing. We must accept as normal governance the shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to an apartheid state, the use of vetoes at the U.N. Security Council to protect Israel and the active obstruction of international efforts to end mass murder.
We have no choice.
Genocide, the internationally recognized crime of crimes, is not a policy issue. It cannot be equated with trade deals, infrastructure bills, charter schools or immigration. It is a moral issue.
It is about the eradication of a people. Any surrender to genocide condemns us as a nation and as a species. It plunges the global society one step closer to barbarity.
It eviscerates the rule of law and mocks every fundamental value we claim to honor. It is in a category by itself. And to not, with every fiber of our being, combat genocide is to be complicit in what Hannah Arendt defines as “radical evil,” the evil where human beings, as human beings, are rendered superfluous.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/08/20/chris-hedges-thou-shalt-not-commit-genocide/
So the most ‘moral army’ in the world isn’t that moral after all. Associating with Hamas is poisonous…how about associating with Zionists? Even deadlier.
On the other hand, there is this recent news:
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-08-20/court-upholds-99-year-old-nazi-camp-workers-murder-conviction
What would happen if a similar standard were applied to Americans? What would happen if someday Americans who are complicit in the crimes in Gaza were prosecuted with equal vigor? There have been a few resignations by low- and mid-level federal employees in protest of our enabling Israel’s war crimes. Josh Paul is perhaps the best known among them. Aaron Bushnell immolated himself in protest. Another person in Atlanta also did so, or attempted to do so, though I have not seen details (including a name) about that reported. Outside government, some students have been arrested, and some even expelled from their schools when they protested.
The German case has been in the news for a long time, but I don’t recall seeing a discussion about how much agency a teen-age woman had during WWII in Germany. I imagine most Germans had little choice about their assignments during the war. Far less than most Americans do today, I would imagine. Most of us do our jobs, pay our taxes, vote for pro-Zionist candidates because they are the ones on offer. We live comfortably. A few are distressed and complain. They are called anti-semitic, or are simply ignored.