An audience of ministers, deputies, reserve officers, and public sector employees gathered to defend rapists. This is not a work of Hollywood fiction or a story crafted for cinematic promotion. On July 29, 2024, hundreds of Israeli activists, including members of parliament and government ministers such as Amihai Eliyahu, the Israeli Minister of Heritage, protested outside the “Sde Teiman” detention camp in the Naqab. They were objecting to the Israeli military police's decision to investigate allegations of the rape of a Palestinian detainee from Gaza, who was transferred to hospital in a critical condition.
As this story surfaced, a disturbing alignment emerged among the community, the people, and the political and security apparatus in Israel, all mobilizing to defend the rapists who abused an unarmed Palestinian detainee — shackled, defenseless, and frail. His body, weakened by chains and shackles that wore away at his wrists and ankles, was also suffering from hunger, sleep deprivation, and attacks by police dogs and he was further burdened by worry for his family, friends, and those detained with him.
This story speaks of a community, people, and political and security system that do not care about how the world perceives their future, or the images that will remain in the minds of their children. They appear indifferent to the extent of savagery and violence seeping into their society, schools, families, the public sphere, and possibly into their children's nurseries.
Contradictory Narratives
Immediately following the onset of the war, Israeli official and unofficial spokespersons mobilized to propagate a narrative, crafted by the Israeli media and its supporters, to condemn alleged "rape incidents that occurred on Oct. 7,” which they claimed Palestinians were responsible for. Journalists and human rights organizations, including some Israeli institutions, debunked these claims. More importantly, this narrative was used by Israel to promote an image of an “enlightened West” confronting a "barbaric East,” supposedly upholding high moral values and human rights principles.
This sentiment was similarly echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who portrayed the war as a battle between the "children of light" and the "children of darkness," as expressed in a document distributed to Israeli soldiers on Nov. 3, 2023.
The “Sde Teiman” Detention Camp
“Sde Teiman,” which translates to "field of Yemen" in Arabic, is a site entrenched with a colonial history dating back to the Second World War. Established by the British Mandate authorities in Palestine, it initially supported their military operations, including housing a military airport.
It was at this camp that the Jewish Agency carried out the evacuation and displacement of Yemeni Jews from their homeland to the new Zionist colony of "Israel" between 1949 and 1950, an operation dubbed "Operation Magic Carpet." This has also led to another covert operation involving the abduction of children from Yemeni immigrant families, who were then given to Ashkenazi immigrant families. Several official Israeli committees were formed to investigate these kidnappings, a process that continued for decades, with many human rights organizations still working to uncover further details about this issue.
The camp was later used as a prison by the Israeli government following its assaults on the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009, and later in 2014. The camp was justified as a location to detain those considered "unlawful combatants," posing a threat to “security” based on vague criteria not grounded in established legal principles.
The grim history of this camp is as dark as its present. It represents an extension of a bloody colonial legacy, now culminating in its use as a detention camp that houses and defends the rapists of Palestinian detainees.
Violations Beyond “Sde Teiman”
The incidents of rape, murder, and the degradation of Palestinian detainees’ dignity and humanity at “Sde Teiman” are not isolated incidents; they have occurred in other prisons and detention centers as well. Some of those locations existed long before Oct. 7, 2023, while others were opened after the war to accommodate the thousands of detainees arrested indiscriminately from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These "slaughterhouses," as Palestinian prisoners refer to them, include the Anatot Prison located east of Jerusalem, Ofer Camp Prison located north of Jerusalem, Naqab Prison in Southern Palestine, and Megiddo prison in the Marj Ibn Amir, in addition to other prisons and detention centers crowded with thousands of Palestinian detainees who endure the harshest forms of oppression and deprivation.
Between Oct. 7, 2023, and July 2, 2024, at least 44 Palestinian prisoners died due to torture, starvation, and lack of medical treatment, according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 9, 2024. This number pertains to prisoners held in facilities managed by the Israeli army. The same report notes that at least 16 prisoners were killed inside facilities run by the Israel Prison Service, overseen by the extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. This minister personally supervised the distribution of weapons to Israeli civilians under the pretext of "self-defense." Ben-Gvir takes pride in his policies of humiliating Palestinian prisoners, believing that it enhances his popularity as he continues to boast about the violence directed toward prisoners in Israeli media and social networks.
It is advisable to review the report by B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, titled "Welcome to Hell." The report documents the continuous abuse of Palestinian prisoners, relying on testimonies from those who have been released, some of whom agreed to have their names published, while others chose to remain anonymous.
Societal Violence
This violence, coupled with unprecedented popular approval and near-consensus within Israeli society, will inevitably lead to rising levels of domestic and societal violence within Israel. The unprecedented acceptance of the violence perpetrated by soldiers during the war in Gaza, the West Bank, and Palestinian villages and cities within the 1948 borders is alarming.
In a normal society, the rape of unarmed prisoners by soldiers representing the official system would provoke condemnation and outrage, with the perpetrators tried and punished. However, Israeli society has aligned in support of the rapists, championing them in military courts and portraying them as heroes sacrificing themselves for their community and people. Members of parliament and ministers who stormed Sde Teiman Camp, where both the rape victims and the rapists were present, legitimized this vile act as representatives of the system. This will inevitably lead to an increase in violence against the Palestinian community within Israel, which continues to face blatant racial discrimination from both Jewish society and the state in Israel that has imposed a series of racist laws against them since 1948.
Moreover, the terrorism by settlers and the military in the West Bank will gain legal cover and become more organized, leading to greater control over people, water, and land, as well as more attacks, arson, and harassment of Palestinian villages. Naturally, this violence will inevitably spill over into Jewish society in Israel, where crime rates will rise. These crimes will range from political exclusion attempts by right-wing parties against their political opponents to organized crime, which will intensify and become more evident over time.
A Witness from Within
In an article published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Aug. 9, 2024, Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister of Israel, warned of the repercussions on Israeli society of the "Sde Teiman" incident and the escalating settler violence in the West Bank. He stated that what happened threatens and undermines the collective values that have formed the social and political foundation of the State of Israel. In the same article, Olmert recalled the right-wing alignment during the defense of Israeli soldier Elor Azaria, who executed a wounded Palestinian, Abdul Fattah al-Sharif, in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron in March 2016. Right-wing supporters of Azaria argued that his actions — shooting a wounded person — were merely self-defense and that he should be viewed as a hero defending the homeland and "our threatened existence."
According to Olmert, “the biggest danger facing Israel, the one truly threatening the state’s existence, undermining its stability, economy, unity, and identity, is the danger from within,” noting that what happened at “Sde Teiman” is merely a precursor to this danger.
Justification Under the Pretext of Existential Threat
The demonstrations at “Sde Teiman” detention camp, the storming of the camp and the military court in Beit Lid, and the defense of the killer Azaria, are manifestations of deep-rooted right-wing tendencies that reveal the extent of moral decline within Israeli society, which defends convicted criminals. This society, along with its political institutions, is fully aware of the implications of this moral decline. However, despite acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip over the past 10 months, there remains a clear popular and official inclination to accept and normalize this moral decline. Crimes, violations, and heinous acts are justified under the pretext of revenge and an ever-present existential threat.
