65% of Israeli Jews oppose criminal prosecution for soldiers suspected of raping Palestinian detainees

Jonathan Ofir

Mondoweiss  /  August 19, 2024

A shocking new poll shows that almost two out of three Jewish Israelis oppose criminal prosecution for soldiers suspected of gang-raping Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman torture facility.

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 28% 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.

Jonathan Ofir – Israeli musician, conductor and blogger/writer based in Denmark