When Israel was attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, officers had been fast to sentence the sexual violence of Hamas. “You’ve heard of the rape of Israeli girls. The place the hell are you?” “Ladies raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies.” “Makes use of rape as a weapon of battle.” “Sexual violence as a weapon of battle by Hamas.” I went to the West Financial institution to speak with Palestinians who skilled sexual assault firsthand by Israeli troopers, settlers and jail guards. Their harrowing accounts, backed by attorneys, surveys and worldwide reviews, recommend that sexual violence by Israelis towards Palestinians is widespread. And that raises the query: The place is the revulsion towards sexual assault now? I don’t see any proof that Israeli leaders order rape, however they’ve constructed a safety equipment the place, based on a 2025 United Nations report, sexual violence is a a significant factor within the ill-treatment of Palestinians. Prime Minister Netanyahu has known as accusations of sexual violence by Israelis baseless. However my reporting means that sexual violence has drastically worsened beneath Netanyahu in recent times. What precisely does this appear to be? Right here’s what I discovered. That is Sami al-Sai, a contract journalist for worldwide information organizations. They [prison guards] took me to a solitary cell, whereas handcuffed, leg cuffed and blindfolded. They put me on the bottom in kneeling place with head down. They took off my pants and boxers, and began raping me with sticks and carrots in a really aggressive and painful manner and harassing and touching my genitals in a really painful and forceful manner. I spoke to a farmer who recounted how 20 settlers rampaged by way of Palestinian properties and used a searching knife to chop off his garments. I obtained out of the tent. I used to be standing proper right here. They pulled me inside. They used these zip ties, tied my palms with multiple zip tie. They tied my legs too. Hit me within the eye with a fist. They pulled me inside proper right here and began pouring filth on me and water. They took off my pants and zip tied my penis and began pulling it. The zip ties had been nonetheless on the bottom once I visited. And that is Mohammad Matar, a Palestinian Authority official —— —— who says he was with two different Palestinians attempting to guard a Bedouin village beneath assault from settlers when the settlers seized them, stripped them, beat them. And he says one tried to rape him with a stick. And he truly has some proof of this interplay with the settlers within the type of a photograph that the settlers posted to social media. One lady, 23 on the time of her detention, instructed me that she was frequently stripped bare, forcibly bent over and groped throughout her physique by female and male guards. One journalist stated he had been held down and raped by a canine, a declare backed by different accounts from prisoners who report they underwent the identical factor. I’m appalled by this sample of abuse, partly as a result of our American tax {dollars} subsidize the Israeli safety forces. I worry that leaves us complicit. America has leverage, and we may use it to insist on an finish to the impunity and to demand that Purple Cross visits be restored for Palestinian detainees. Look, whether or not you contemplate your self pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, right here’s one factor we must always be capable to agree on: We’re anti-rape. The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli girls on Oct. 7 now occurs to Palestinians day after day after day.
