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b tselem
Israeli Rights Group Leader Tells UN It's Clear Netanyahu 'Does Not Want' a Hostage Deal
Israel's far-right government is "cynically exploiting our collective trauma" to "violently advance its project of cementing Israel's control" over Palestinian land, said B'Tselem CEO Yuli Novak.
Sep 05, 2024
The head of a leading Israeli human rights organization told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that Israel's far-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, obviously "does not want" to reach a hostage-release and cease-fire agreement with Hamas.
Yuli Novak, the CEO of B'Tselem, said in an address to the U.N. body that the Netanyahu government is "cynically exploiting our collective trauma" in the wake of the October 7 Hamas-led attack to "violently advance its project of cementing Israel's control" over Palestinian land.
"To do that, it is waging war on the entire Palestinian people, committing war crimes almost daily," said Novak. "In Gaza, this has taken the form of expulsion, starvation, killing, and destruction on an unprecedented scale."
Watch Novak's full speech:
Listen to the full speech of our executive director, Yuli Novak, yesterday at the UNSC.
"During this week, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets. They feel angry, desperate and betrayed by their government. They have understood, perhaps for the first time,… pic.twitter.com/aMRf9rTOD9
— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) September 5, 2024
Novak's remarks came days after Israelis poured into the streets en masse over the weekend following their government's announcement that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, heightening outrage over Netanyahu's obstruction of cease-fire talks.
In a speech on Monday, Netanyahu doubled down on his new hardline demands that have dampened hopes of a deal to end Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza and free the more than 60 living hostages still in captivity in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Hamas has rejected the prime minister's demand that any deal include indefinite Israeli military control of the Philadelphi Corridor—a narrow strip of land along Gaza's border with Egypt—leaving cease-fire talks at a standstill as the war on Gaza nears the 11-month mark.
Gershon Baskin, a longtime Israeli hostage negotiator who has engaged in back-channel talks with Hamas since the October 7 attack, toldDemocracy Now! on Wednesday that the Philadelphi Corridor demand "is a made-up issue by Netanyahu to create... a new excuse for Israel to remain in Gaza."
"It's very clear that Netanyahu doesn't want to end the war," Baskin said.
In a
social media post earlier this week, Baskin accused Netanyahu of "sacrificing the hostages on an altar of his own personal political survival."
Israeli activist @gershonbaskin has served as a backchannel negotiator with Hamas for many years and secured a historic 2011 prisoner exchange. He says the group has agreed to a ceasefire deal that would release all the Israeli hostages currently held in Gaza, but that Prime… pic.twitter.com/Q2sBtzVz3k
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) September 4, 2024
The view that Netanyahu is deliberately sabotaging hostage-release talks is hardly fringe: As
Jacobin's Branko Marcetic observed Wednesday, that assessment has become commonplace across Israeli society, including inside Netanyahu's government.
Marcetic cited recent reports from dozens of mainstream Israeli and U.S. media outlets casting Netanyahu—who faces corruption charges in his country—as the primary obstacle to a cease-fire agreement.
One unnamed Israeli official, identified as a senior member of the country's government,
told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz over the weekend that the blood of hostages "is on [Netanyahu's] hands."
"He knew the hostages are living on borrowed time, that the sand in their hourglass was running out," said the senior official, referring to the six hostages who, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health, were shot at close range sometime around last Thursday.
"He knew there were orders to kill them if there'd be rescue attempts. He understood the significance of his orders and acted in cold blood and cruelly," the Israeli official continued. "They all knew he is corrupted, a narcissist, a coward, but his lack of humanity was fully revealed in all its ugliness in recent months."
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Israeli General Strike Protests Netanyahu's 'Cabinet of Death'
"The Israeli government places no value on human life—whether of its Gazan subjects or of its own citizens," said the Israeli group B'Tselem.
Sep 02, 2024
Update:
The chairman of Histadrut, Israel's largest trade union, instructed workers to return to their jobs following an order by an Israeli court to end the general strike on Monday afternoon.
Earlier:
Workers across Israel walked off the job and took to the streets on Monday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to agree to a cease-fire and hostage-release deal after Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six people who were held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Teachers, local government employees, transit workers, and others took part in the strike, which halted departures from Israel's largest airport, shut down universities and shopping malls, and disrupted the flow of traffic as outraged Israelis blocked roads.
The strike was called by Histadrut, Israel's largest trade union. Arnon Bar-David, the union's chairman, said ahead of the action that "this is not a matter of right or left; it is a matter of life and death."
"All the heads of the security establishment support the deal, and it is the government's responsibility to bring our hostages home," he continued. "It is inconceivable that our children will not return because of narrow considerations and interests."
Yair Lapid, Israel's opposition leader, expressed support for the strike, saying that "Netanyahu and the cabinet of death decided not to save" the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Rafah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that Hamas fighters killed the hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Hamas said in a statement that "we hold the criminal terrorist Benjamin Netanyahu and the biased American administration responsible for the failure of the negotiations to stop the aggression against our people and to release the prisoners in an exchange."
"We also hold him fully responsible for the lives of the prisoners who were killed by his army's bullets," Hamas added.
The IDF's announcement Sunday intensified the fury that hostages' families and much of Israeli society have directed at Netanyahu, who has repeatedly sabotaged cease-fire talks with hardline demands in recent weeks. Israeli officials believe around 100 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, including roughly 35 who are believed to be dead.
At least some of the hostages have been killed by Israeli forces. In April, Hamas released a brief video in which Goldberg-Polin appealed to the Netanyahu government for a cease-fire agreement and said at least 70 hostages had been killed in IDF attacks.
Thousands of Israelis took to the streets lashing out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after six hostages were found dead in the Gaza strip.
Read how the protests and a labor strike are mounting pressure for a cease-fire https://t.co/ffWWk2cmwC pic.twitter.com/uSzeNGam1v
— Bloomberg (@business) September 2, 2024
B'Tselem, an Israeli advocacy organization, said in a statement Sunday that "the six Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza this morning could have been saved if the Israeli government had heeded the pleas of their families and the Israeli public to reach a cease-fire and an exchange deal."
"The Israeli government places no value on human life—whether of its Gazan subjects or of its own citizens," the group added.
Labor unions in the United States—Israel's main ally and weapons supplier—expressed solidarity with Israeli workers who walked off the job Monday, with American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten applauding "this action to halt Israel's economy to send a message to the Netanyahu government to end this war."
"We are devastated by the murder of the six innocent hostages by Hamas, young people, most of whom were at the Nova dance festival," said Weingarten. "But it is unconscionable that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has refused to seal a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would bring the hostages home and end the humanitarian crisis of Gaza. We have called for an end to this war since January. In Netanyahu's obstinance, he has refused to listen, even to his own military and security experts."
The strike kicked off amid reports that the U.S. "has been talking to Egypt and Qatar about the contours of a final 'take it or leave it' deal that it plans to present to the parties in the coming weeks," according toThe Washington Post.
"Biden officials said it was not immediately clear whether the discovery of the six hostages would make it more or less likely that Israel and Hamas could come to an agreement in the coming weeks," the Post added.
Drop Site's Jeremy Scahill noted Sunday that "rather than insisting on upholding what [U.S. President Joe] Biden said was Israel's own proposal in May, the U.S. has appeased Netanyahu's efforts to allow an indefinite presence of Israeli forces in Gaza and an open-ended campaign of military attacks."
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Where Is the Mass Outrage Over Israel’s Abu Ghraib?
The silence of Western media and politicians in response to revelations of systematic abuses of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody amounts to complicity.
Aug 10, 2024
It’s been just over 20 years since CBS News published the sobering photographs that proved the U.S. Army was carrying out unspeakable crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
Rape. Degradation. Homicide. Torture, both psychological and physical. Sexual humiliation.
The revelations of U.S. barbarity were greeted with horror around the world and played a major role in turning opinion against the Iraq War.
In recent days, it has become all too clear that something comparable to Abu Ghraib—and very possibly worse—has been taking place in Israeli prisons since October 7 when the war on Gaza broke out.
Looking terrified as he spoke, he told us of his disbelief that “peaceful people with no power can be starved, tortured, and killed” in the 21st century, with no protection, legal representation, or international outrage.
This week, appalling leaked video footage captured Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee, just as a report from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem highlighted the state’s policy of systematic prisoner abuse and torture since the start of the war.
The report, based on interviews with 55 Palestinians detained since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, is distressing to read. It provides evidence of degrading treatment, arbitrary beatings, and sleep deprivation, as well as the “repeated use of sexual violence, in varying degrees of severity.”
Fadi Baker, 25, recollects that Israeli forces “put cigarettes out in my mouth and on my body. They put clamps on my testicles that were attached to something heavy. It went on like that for a full day. My testicles swelled up and my left ear bled.”
He said interrogators asked him about Hamas leaders and people he didn’t know and then beat him. “Then they put me back in the freezing room with the loud disco music, and again left me there, naked, for two days.”
B’Tselem headlined its report: “Welcome to hell.”
Normalizing Rape
While Israeli authorities have denied such accounts, the analysis comes just days after nine soldiers were arrested in relation to the rape of a Palestinian prisoner at the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility. The victim reportedly suffered a severe injury to his anus, a ruptured bowel, lung damage, and broken ribs.
In addition, last month the United Nations Human Rights office published a report that found shocking abuses in Israeli military facilities and prisons, where at least 53 Palestinians have died since October 7.
How have Western politicians remained silent on these horrors? Where is the mass public outrage?
This collective omerta from politicians and the media about Israel’s monstrous conduct is hard to comprehend, given that we are talking about systematic war crimes committed on a horrifying scale by a country already under investigation at the International Court of Justice for potential genocide.
It seems Israeli leaders have been successful in their campaign to normalize rape and other abuses against Palestinian prisoners. After the arrest of the nine soldiers at Sde Teiman, far-right protesters who stormed the facility were joined by several Knesset members. Justice Minister Yariv Levin said he was “shocked to see harsh pictures of soldiers being arrested,” adding that it was “impossible to accept.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir went even further: “I recommend the defence minister, the [Israeli army] chief and the military authorities to… learn from the prison service—light treatment of terrorists is over. Soldiers need to have our full support.”
Energy Minister Eli Cohen also came out in strong support of the “reservists who do holy work and guard the despicable Hamas terrorists,” adding, “We should all embrace them and salute them, certainly not interrogate them and humiliate them.”
The real goal of the arrests might simply have been to present the illusion that Israel is taking action internally against such horrors, in a bid to avoid international war crimes trials at The Hague. According to a recent report from Ynet, senior Israeli legal officials said: “It’s better that we investigate. Internal investigations save international external investigations.”
In a Haaretz article late last month, law professor Orit Kamir referenced legislation that was passed a year ago to allow for increased punishment in cases of Palestinians who sexually assault Jewish women. One year on, portions of the Israeli establishment “are no longer satisfied with doubling punishment… The state law amendment a year ago was only the trailer, when they were still hesitant and restrained,” she wrote.
“Now the sting is out of the bag, and they renounce the rule of law of the country altogether, and demand to apply the ancient law of revenge: an eye for an eye and rape for rape. Those who were arrested by the [Israeli army] as a suspect in connection with the 7 October atrocities were, according to their opinion, to be raped in custody by Jewish Israeli soldiers.”
Such abuses are becoming mainstream. There is ample evidence. Where is the broad global condemnation?
Western Complicity
The accounts cited by B’Tselem are consistent with many other reports that have filtered out from Israeli prisons over the last 10 months.
Four weeks ago, we interviewed Muazzaz Abayat in his hospital bed in Bethlehem after his release from jail, following nine months of administrative detention. Abayat, who had lost more than half his body weight in jail, told us that throughout his imprisonment, he was beaten, abused, tortured, starved, and deprived of water.
He said that his case was not exceptional—every other Palestinian prisoner faces the same treatment. His unimaginable suffering was sculpted in his face. Abayat compared the Negev prison where he had been held to the notorious U.S. facilities at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
These are the signs of a very sick society indeed—one that has passed through an invisible barrier into savagery. There are no red lines, no respect for international law, and no accountability.
He was never charged with any crime. Looking terrified as he spoke, he told us of his disbelief that “peaceful people with no power can be starved, tortured, and killed” in the 21st century, with no protection, legal representation, or international outrage.
There is still no international outcry. Incredibly, there has not even been comment. Despite the tsunami of evidence in recent days, there has been nothing from Western leaders. Nothing from U.S. President Joe Biden or his vice president, Kamala Harris. Silence from Keir Starmer, the British prime minister who threw his weight behind Israel’s policy of collective punishment in Gaza.
Nor have we heard from the former prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who had previously pledged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “unequivocal” support. The British media—with the honorable exception of The Guardian, which gave full coverage to the B’Tselem report—has been largely silent.
This collective omerta from politicians and the media about Israel’s monstrous conduct is hard to comprehend, given that we are talking about systematic war crimes committed on a horrifying scale by a country already under investigation at the International Court of Justice for potential genocide.
Their silence amounts to complicity. As for Israel, the majority of the political and media classes do not appear to think there is much wrong in the torture and abuse of prisoners, with some ministers actively defending the abusers.
During a recent televised debate, one of the panellists suggested it should be legal to use rape as a form of torture. In any other country, such vile comments would be major news.
These are the signs of a very sick society indeed—one that has passed through an invisible barrier into savagery. There are no red lines, no respect for international law, and no accountability. The silence of the West shows that we, too, have entered the same nightmare universe as Ben Gvir and Netanyahu.
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