Israel’s focus on political drama rather than Palestinian rape victim

The political and media establishments in Israel were shocked by Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi’s revelations last week that she had leaked footage of a Palestinian detainee being gang raped in a 2024 military detention facility.

The leak, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “probably the most severe public relations attack the State of Israel has experienced” under his leadership of the genocidal war against Gaza. Establishment voices, who claim Netanyahu and his allies are stooling the leak, have voiced criticism of his position.

The Palestinian prisoner was gang raped on July 5, 2024 at Sde Teiman, fueling the leak’s admission, in addition to the headlines. The man was taken to a hospital after the brutal attack, where injuries that the Israeli daily Haaretz discovered included broken ribs, severe anal and lung injuries, and a ruptured bowel.

You won’t find the word “rape” anywhere in Israel, according to Orly Noy, editor of Local Call in the Hebrew language. The way the story is contextualized differs no more than it is in any other way, according to the author.

Tomer-Yerushalmi and those accused of helping her cover up the leak are the focus of the story rather than the rape and the ongoing legal proceedings against the five suspects.

Energy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said on Israeli television on Saturday night that Tomer-Yerushalmi was “supposed to be the bulletproof vest, the protector, of the]Israeli military] soldiers.

He referred to the lawyer who leaked footage of soldiers allegedly raping prisoners, saying, “She stabbed them in the back.” We are referring to treason in this instance.

Israel Katz, the defense minister, made no less than a damning statement accusing the military attorney of participating in “blood libel” against the five alleged rapists, releasing at least seven statements in a week.

The rape industry is politicized

It’s not new to concentrate on Tomer-Yerushalmi rather than the alleged rapists.

Since the first rumors of the rape broke out in August 2024, the former chief military advocate has been the target of political pressure and accusations of concealing the source of the leak. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced in early October that an investigation into the source of the leak had grown out of this pressure.

Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted to being the source of the leak on Friday, November 1st. She was discovered hiding what some friends and family believed to be a suicide note, which prompted a significant search two days later when she was discovered missing for several hours.

Tomer-Yerushalmi was detained shortly after being discovered safe, and Israeli authorities dismissed the suicide note as a plot. Fraud, breach of trust, obstruction of justice, and abuse of office have been charges against her in addition to these.

Colonel Matan Solomosh, the military’s former chief prosecutor, has been detained by police on suspicion of helping Tomer-Yerushalmi cover up the leak, which they have been doing since Sunday. Additionally, it’s possible that the attorney general and her staff were involved.

Political analyst Ori Goldberg remarked that “race doesn’t matter” when asked how Israeli authorities responded to the leak’s news. The woman who leaked the tape and what they want to call the deep state are what matters, they say.

This is proof that the deep state has grown too big for its britches, according to Netanyahu and others, and that their cooperation with the attorney general provides proof of the treachery as well as a means of undermining any possible civilian oversight over their operations.

The “deep state”

The legal battle between Netanyahu and his allies dates back to the “judicial coup” of 2023, when he proposed a comprehensive legislative overhaul of Israel’s judicial system. Since 2019, he has also been charged with corruption.

The proposed judicial reforms by the prime minister would allow his right-wing coalition to operate without the Supreme Court’s supervision, which could lead to further restrictions on dissent and Palestinian rights.

Attorney General Baharav-Miara has found herself in danger of losing because of her opposition to those changes. She criticized the proposed judicial overhaul in legal guidance issued in 2023, saying it would “violate” Israel’s laws and regulations and was “a sure recipe for harming human rights and clean governance.” Additionally, she advised the prime minister to keep his distance from the judicial reforms because his own corruption trial would present a conflict of interest.

According to Aida Touma-Suleiman, a member of the left-wing Hadash-Ta’al faction in the Israeli parliament, “they want to cover up the rape.” They are dealing with the prosecutors, not the crime itself, because of this.

Benjamin Netanyahu uses this, just like the right wing does it, according to Netanyahu. Since the beginning of the story, they have been repeating the same message. The judiciary operates in this manner. These are what you’re referred to as “checks and balances.” They are criminals, look at them.

Justice was squandered

The likelihood of prosecuting the alleged rapists appears to be declining amid the political furore.

The rape victim’s return to Gaza in October as part of the exchange of captives was made public on Monday, sparking rumors that he might not show up in court proceedings against his alleged attackers.

When five of the indicted for the assault appeared in front of Israel’s Supreme Court while wearing balaclavas to conceal their identities, their charges were downgraded to “severly abusing” the detainee on Sunday.

Moshe Polsky, a lawyer for the suspects, claimed that the leak had left his clients barred from receiving fair trials and that the indictment process had been tarnished.

One suspect, who declined to be identified, described himself and other suspects as devoted patriots who had been unfairly targeted by a legal system that they believed had undermined their service. In response to the October 7 attack, he said, “We knew we had to defend the country.”

“Several fighters have been fighting for justice in courtrooms ever since that day,” the statement read.

However, the saga of accusation, counter-accusation, and cover-up that has come to overshadow the brutal rape of a prisoner in Israeli custody has little to do with justice for observers like journalist Noy.

She said, “The problem is with the system and not the Palestinian victim,” adding that she didn’t think about the other side.

According to Noy, “one side views it as [about] the old elite protecting itself, and the other as [about] safeguarding the state’s institutions.” “But don’t forget that these institutions are the same ones they need to keep abusing Palestinians,” he said. When they are subjected to criticism from abroad, they offer these defenses.

Source: Aljazeera