Palestinian prisoner abuse is not an aberration, say human rights activist

Israeli soldiers who abuse Palestinian prisoners and those who support this are also abusing Jewish values and threatening Israel with internal collapse, a leading Israeli progressive activist told The Jewish Independent.

Avi Dabush, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, who visited Australia in April on a speaking tour, said it would be a mistake to understand prisoner abuse as merely the work of aberrant soldiers.

“It’s not individuals only. The question is the norms, the supervision and the ability to set boundaries and punish someone who doesn’t act accordingly,” he said.

“Every society has violent people and people who want to use violence. The question is leadership and in our leadership there are many who encourage this.”

Prisoner abuse, which according to rights groups has been carried out persistently since the start of the war, came to the fore this week after coalition ministers and legislators joined far-right protesters who broke into the Sde Teiman facility in a bid to prevent military police from arresting soldiers suspected in a sexual assault that severely wounded a Palestinian detainee.

“Even if we judge these soldiers, it won’t solve the problem without leaders and a system making clear that this is simply unacceptable,” said Dabush, a member of Kibbutz Nirim near the Gaza border. Dabush survived the October 7 Hamas assault in the area by clutching the door handle of the saferoom where he and his family hid while Hamas fighters killed and kidnapped friends and neighbours.

“I reject the idea that October 7 is an excuse for any violence and unhindered behaviour that harms our values,” Dabush said.

A CNN report in May, based on accounts of Israeli whistleblowers and former detainees, alleged widespread abuse at Sde Teiman, including amputations necessitated by prolonged and stringently tight use of handcuffs, beatings and neglect of medical problems. Haaretz has also reported on such alleged abuses.

A UN report released on Tuesday, cited by the Times of Israel, detailed allegations of electric shock, waterboarding, use of stress positions, prolonged blindfolding and deprivation of food, water and sleep at Sde Teiman.

The Israel Prison Authority, meanwhile, is systematically reducing the caloric intake of Palestinian security prisoners wherever they are being held. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, responded to a petition by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel against this by writing: “there is no starvation but my policy does call for reducing conditions including food and calories”.

Ben-Gvir claims this has a deterrent effect on Palestinians, causing them to want to stay out of prison. But since he widely publicises his steps, he clearly thinks it also boosts his popularity.

The mounting displays of cruelty worry Dabash. “With all the anger and terrible pain over what happened, abuse won’t return anyone to us. We must look to our future and that of our children and think how we stop this cycle and not how we create more suffering on the other side. They will make more suffering for us and it will be an endless cycle that harms us,” he said.

He said that since October 7, which marked the deadliest day ever for Israel and triggered its devastating war in Gaza, a parallel front had opened in which basic Jewish and humanistic values are under attack.

“Always in war, there is a danger of people saying let’s not act according to values, let’s act through violence and force,” Dabush said. Citing the Austrian Holocaust survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl, he suggested that values are what enables Israel’s survival. “It means that if we give up our values, we’ll collapse from inside.”

“This is not only about Israel as a state, it’s about our culture, Israeli and Jewish culture.”

Dabush termed the abuse of Palestinian prisoners a clear violation of Judaism. “Judaism teaches that humans are created in God’s image and we believe in human dignity. It’s not by chance that Genesis and prophetic vision were a basis for liberal democracy.

“Judaism stands for the idea that every human being has god’s image, not just a Jew, not just an Israeli and not just a rightist. Therefore, any injury of a human is an injury to God’s image.

“Also, with our enemies we are obliged to adhere to boundaries and to the image of God in the person. Even if we try him and put him in prison for life and if we are rightfully angry over what he or these people did, encouragement to treat people with respect is very grounded in Judaism.”

In addition to the moral arguments, Dabush is worried that abuse of Palestinian prisoners further endangers the Israeli hostages. “As someone from the Gaza envelope who has friends still in Gaza, we want our brothers and sisters to be treated with respect. I don’t compare [Hamas’s forces that attacked Israel and perpetrated atrocities] to the hostages but I want our soldiers and civilians to get honourable treatment.”

Israel’s integrity as a country is also at stake since it is signed onto international agreements that prohibit violations against prisoners, Dabush added.

 A UN Human Rights Commission report released on Wednesday said that at least 53 detainees from the West Bank and Gaza have died in detention since October 7.

Ben-Gvir on Tuesday said the soldiers arrested on sodomy suspicions are “the finest of our heroes”.

Dabush blames Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for empowering Ben-Gvir. In France, “Macron saw the danger and isolated the Right. In Israel, unfortunately the Likud embraces Kahanism.”

Asked what could redress this dangerous reality, Dabush replied: “we need to continue public pressure for a ceasefire and an exchange that will bring home the hostages and we need to push hard for elections so that the people responsible for the catastrophe and what occurred after it will go home and a new government will be chosen that is more responsible and more moderate. That can stabilise the situation and constitute an opening for working for solutions.”

RELATED STORIES

Israel may have tortured Palestinian prisoners - UN (BBC)
The United Nations human rights office says Palestinians detained by Israel since the outbreak of the war in Gaza may have been tortured.

Sde Teiman doctor who saw abused Gazan Detainee: 'I couldn't believe an israeli prison guard could do such a thing' (Haaretz)

Prof. Yoel Donchin, a doctor at Sde Teiman who saw the Gazan detainee after he was allegedly abused by nine Israeli reservists, expressed shock at the man's condition. 'I was certain this was revenge by the Nukhba against the Nukhba,' he said, referring to the elite Hamas unit.

ANALYSIS

We warned about Sde Teiman. The torture there has backing from high up (Tal Steiner, Haaretz)
A few weeks into the war, reports and rumors began coming in about what was happening at Sde Teiman, where thousands of detainees from the Gaza Strip were being brought after mass arrests by soldiers. The reports were vague and we struggled to verify them, but still it was clear that something very bad was happening at the facility in the south.

To be a civilized nation, Israel must acknowledge its own barbarism (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz)

Netanyahu can't have it both ways. He can't try to present Israel as an enlightened democracy defending itself (and the Western world) against brutal monsters, while also tolerating ministers who don't believe that allegations of barbaric behaviour against possible terrorists should be investigated

RELATED STORIES