‘Unconscionable’: US Called to Stop Shipping Taser Weapons to Israel After Horrific Abuses of Palestinian Detainees Reported
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for action by not only the manufacturer but also the Trump administration to "block the transfer of technologies to governments implicated in systemic human rights violations.”
America's largest Muslim civil rights organization is calling for the US-based manufacturer of Tasers to stop supplying them to Israel following the publication of a harrowing investigation into their use to torture Palestinian prisoners.
On Thursday, The Guardian and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism reported on allegations from four Palestinian detainees who said they were restrained and tortured using electroshock weapons made by Axon Enterprise, formerly Taser International.
One man identified as Essa, who had both his feet amputated after being injured in an Israeli missile attack on his home, said that while in custody at Israel’s Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank, soldiers shot him with rubber bullets, tied him up, and blasted him with the stun gun, leaving marks that are still visible a year after his release.
Another detainee said his body was doused with water to intensify the shock before he was hit with a Taser in 2024. He said he still suffers from visual impairment, spasms, and fainting spells.
These new accounts are not the first allegations of electroshock devices being used to torture Palestinian prisoners. The United Nations Human Rights Office has documented other cases, while Amnesty International has called for restrictions on their use in Israeli prisons.
Israel's military found that soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman detention camp in 2024 had used electric shocks to torture him during the attack. The military dropped the charges against the five soldiers in March 2026.
That month, UN experts identified five more accounts of detainees being shocked by electric batons or similar devices.
In November 2025, the UN Committee Against Torture reported that torture, including the use of electric shocks, had "escalated sharply since October 7, 2023," when Israel launched its genocidal war in Gaza following Hamas' attack. The committee noted that electric shock devices were frequently used in "sexualized forms of torture."
Despite concerns raised by human rights organizations, The Guardian found that Axon likely continues to supply Israeli authorities with electric shock devices and has been documented showcasing its latest models to the nation's security agencies.
“It is unconscionable that equipment manufactured by an American corporation is reportedly being used to carry out acts of torture and abuse against detained Palestinians," said the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Thursday in response to the report.
"Axon must immediately halt all current and future contracts, shipments, and servicing of electroshock weapons to Israeli authorities," the organization said. "Furthermore, the US Department of Commerce must rigorously enforce export oversight criteria to block the transfer of technologies to governments implicated in systemic human rights violations.”
