Gaza Herald- An Israeli journalist has denounced the glorification of five soldiers who tortured and sexually assaulted a handcuffed Palestinian detainee in Israel’s notorious Sde Teiman prison, describing them as “the embodiment of modern-day Israel—an image of shame and disgrace.”
In a sharply worded column published Monday in Haaretz, journalist Yoana Gonen wrote an article titled “What Did We Really Want? To Torture Quietly, Without the Whole World Knowing and Making Us Feel Uncomfortable.”
The piece comes amid uproar in Israel following the arrest of Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the former Military Advocate General, who was detained after allowing the publication of the shocking video showing soldiers sexually assaulting the Palestinian prisoner last year.
The Sde Teiman Scandal and Its Echoes
The assault dates back to July 2024, when Israeli soldiers tortured a Palestinian detainee in Sde Teiman, causing severe injuries and rectal tearing. The video was later leaked to Channel 12 in August, sparking international outrage and condemnation of Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
With biting sarcasm, Gonen wrote: “Blessed are we, for our land is graced with generous tycoons eager to pour their fortunes into regime-propaganda outlets like Channel 14 and i24 News.”
She mocked how these pro-government networks cut live programming “as if broadcasting a national emergency,” to air a press conference held by the five accused soldiers, members of Unit 100, responsible for guarding prisons that hold Palestinian detainees.
“The broadcast was interrupted dramatically,” she noted, “as though it were a matter of national security, not five prison guards accused of horrific sexual violence, reading lines scripted by media consultants.”
During the conference, the masked soldiers spoke of betrayal rather than accountability.
One said, “Instead of a hug, we got accusations. Instead of gratitude, we got silence.”
Gonen responded with scathing irony: “Indeed, shame and disgrace. How tragic that our soldiers can no longer stab a knife into a Palestinian’s rectum without feeling uncomfortable about it.”
The wife of one accused soldier, Hila, told reporters tearfully, “I saw my husband torn apart inside.” Gonen dryly remarked that the phrase was “a bold choice of words, considering her husband is accused of inserting a sharp object into a detainee’s body, causing intestinal rupture.”
At the same event, the soldiers’ lawyer declared that “on the next Independence Day, these men will light the torch—as heroes and victims.”
Gonen concluded: “Who better symbolizes modern-day Israel than these five ‘heroes’ who brutalized a bound Palestinian prisoner? The public demanded Gaza’s destruction, and these men merely took the suggestion a little too literally.”
Netanyahu Condemns the Leak, Not the Crime
Gonen also blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of fueling the smear campaign. “Netanyahu said this was ‘perhaps the most severe propaganda attack Israel has faced since its establishment’, referring, of course, to the leaked footage, not the horrific act it revealed,” she wrote.
Her piece ended with a grim reflection: “Two years of indiscriminate devastation in Gaza. Soldiers posting war crimes on TikTok. Ministers boasting about torturing detainees. Journalists calling for genocide. And yet, the only time the system remembers the rule of law is when its image takes a hit.”
Escalating Repression Against Palestinian Prisoners
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have intensified their systematic crackdown on Palestinian detainees. On Monday, the Knesset’s National Security Committee approved a draft bill allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners, to be put to a preliminary vote later this week.
Last week, Israeli Security Minister Israel Katz signed an order barring International Red Cross representatives from visiting hundreds of Palestinian detainees, according to Israel’s public broadcaster.
More than 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including women and children, where they endure torture, starvation, and deliberate medical neglect, leading to numerous deaths, according to both Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.
