Milena Ansari, the head of the occupied Palestinian territory department at Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, said the rise in sexualised violence and harassment in the occupied West Bank was happening amid a broader culture of impunity for attacks on Palestinians.
A recent decision to
drop charges against soldiers for the filmed rape of an inmate at the Sde Teiman centre sent a particularly clear message.
“Israeli officials are effectively green-lighting the use of sexual violence, when they decide not to prosecute the most high-profile case, which is extremely well documented,” Ansari said. “There is a culture of accepting sexualised assault against Palestinians.
“There was a discussion in the Knesset about whether or not it is OK to rape a Palestinian. Even the prime minister didn’t say that Israel opposes raping detainees.”
Israel’s failure to prosecute settlers who attacked Palestinians in the West Bank led to the country’s former prime minister, Ehud Olmert,
calling for the international criminal court to intervene to save Palestinians from “Jewish terrorists”, in an interview with the Guardian.