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rape
'Shame Must Change Sides': Thousands March in France Against Sexual Violence
The protests were organized in support of Gisèle Pélicot, who has become a symbol of feminist defiance in the country when she chose to make the rape trial of her husband and 50 other men public.
Sep 14, 2024
Thousands of people took to the streets in 30 French cities and Brussels on Saturday to protest rape and sexist violence and to support Gisèle Pélicot, a woman in her early 70s whose husband of 50 years is on trial for drugging her periodically and inviting dozens of men into their home to rape her while she was unconscious.
Pélicot has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France when she decided to make the trial of her husband and 50 other men public to ensure that "no woman suffers this."
"We are all Gisèle," protesters chanted in Paris, according to Le Monde. "Rapist we see you, victim we believe you."
The crime was discovered when her now ex-husband Dominique, a 71 year old who has plead guilty to drugging and raping his wife, was caught taking photos up the skirts of women in 2020. As part of that investigation, police uncovered a USB drive with a file labeled "abuse," which included more than 20,000 photos and videos of the attacks on his wife that were taken over a nine-year period. There was evidence that he had recruited more than 80 men to participate via an online forum. Police identified and charged 50 of the participants.
At the trial, which began September 2 and is expected to last four months, Pélicot described her harrowing experience. As The Guardian reported:
"My world fell apart. For me, everything was falling apart. Everything I had built up over 50 years."
She said she had barely recognized herself in the images, saying she was motionless. "I was sacrificed on the altar of vice," she said. "They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag."
"When you see that woman drugged, mistreated, a dead person on a bed—of course the body is not cold, it's warm, but it's as if I'm dead." She told the court rape was not a strong enough word, it was torture.
Saturday's protests were called by feminist groups in France.
"We thank her a thousand times for her enormous courage," Fatima Benomar of the feminist group "Coudes a Coudes" association told BFM TV.
34-year-old Justine Imbert, who attended a 200-strong march in Marseilles with her six-year-old daughter, told Le Monde, "It must have taken huge courage, but it was essential," for Pélicot to make the trial public.
"It allows people to see the faces of her husband and all the others, to see they are not outcasts but 'good fathers,'" Imbert said.
"I am here to support Gisele and all women as there are many Giseles, too many Giseles."
The men accused in the trial include a member of the local government, a civil servant, a journalist, a former police officer, a prison guard, and more than one nurse.
"It's shocking… because we see that the [men on trial] are a bit like Mr Everyman. It goes against the idea that there is only one type of rapist," 21-year-old photographer Pedro Campos said, according to The Guardian.
Martine Ragon, 74, told journalists she had come to the demonstration in Marseilles to "denounce rape culture."
"This well-publicized trial will allow people to speak out about it, to raise awareness," Ragon said.
Anna Toumazoff, who helped organize the protest in Paris that brought around 700 people to the Place de la Republique, also emphasized the need to talk about "rape culture."
"After seven years of MeToo, we know that there is not a special type of victim. We are also collectively realizing that there is no special type of a rapist," Toumazoff told The Associated Press.
Magali Lafourcade, a magistrate and secretary general of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, told AP that Pélicot's sharing of her story was important because 90% of women who are raped in France do not press charges and 80% of the cases that are brought forward are dropped.
Lou Salome Patouillard, a 41-year-old artist, who joined the demonstration in Marseilles, told Reuters, "I am here to support Gisele and all women as there are many Giseles, too many Giseles."
During the trial, Pélicot said that she began to have problems with her memory during the period when her husband was repeatedly drugging her. When she told her husband she was afraid she had Alzheimer's, he scheduled her a doctor's appointment. During the investigation, it was revealed that she had contracted multiple sexually transmitted diseases.
Through her lawyer, Stephane Babonneau, Pélicot explained her decision to make the trial public.
"It's a way of saying... shame must change sides," Babonneau said at the start of the trial, words that have been taken up as a rallying cry by France's feminist movement.
When supporters unfurled a banner from the Marseilles court building on Saturday, that is what it said: "Shame must change sides."
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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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Far-Right Israelis Mob Bases After Soldiers Arrested for Allegedly Raping Palestinian
Several Israeli lawmakers and one minister took part in the attempt to free the nine reservists, who were hailed as heroes by multiple Cabinet members.
Jul 30, 2024
Far-right Israelis including government officials stormed two military bases late on Monday, sparking clashes with troops and police over the arrest of Israel Defense Forces reservists who allegedly gang-raped a Palestinian prisoner.
Hundreds of protesters broke into the notorious Sde Teiman base in the Negev Desert in an attempt to stop the detention of nine reserve troops accused of sodomizing a Palestinian jailed there.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the victim is hospitalized with severe injuries and is unable to walk.
The nine suspects were then taken to the Beit Lid army base, which was also mobbed by at least dozens of demonstrators.
Base invaders included armed and masked members of Force 100, the military unit tasked with guarding prisoners at Sde Teiman. One of the nine arrested soldiers is reportedly a major in Force 100.
High-ranking Israeli government officials also took part in Monday's riots, including Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, party. Members of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, including Yitzhak Kroizer and Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit), Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), and Tally Gotliv (Likud), were also present.
"The military advocate general is a criminal. The people of Israel will fight against enemies from outside and enemies from within," Har-Melech said during the protest.
Journalists including a woman who works for the state broadcaster Kan said they were attacked while covering the riot.
Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), the Israeli opposition leader, called for the arrest and imprisonment of Knesset members who took part in invasions.
"This is not a riot, this is an attempted coup by an armed militia against a weak prime minister who is unable to control his government," Lapid said on social media.
"We are not on the brink of the abyss, we are in the abyss. All red lines were crossed today," he added. "MKs and ministers who participate in the invasion of violent militias into military bases are a message to the state of Israel: They are done with democracy, they are done with the rule of law."
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) to investigate allegations that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) thwarted police intervention against the rioters.
"Backing and active participation of elected officials in riots at army bases, while issuing harsh statements against senior army officers, is a severe and extremely dangerous phenomenon that harms security, social cohesiveness, and Israel's international reputation," Gallant said.
Netanyahu said he "strongly condemns the break-in."
Ben-Gvir, on the other hand, condemned what he called the "shameful" detention of the nine soldiers, whom he described as "our best heroes."
He acknowledged that conditions inside Israeli prisons "have indeed worsened," adding, "I am proud of that."
Echoing Ben-Gvir, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) called the nine detained reservists "heroic warriors."
In a heated Knesset exchange, Ahmad Tibi of the Arab Movement for Renewal party asked Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky if raping Palestinian prisoners is "legitimate."
"Yes! If he is a Nukhba everything is legitimate to do him!" Milwidsky thundered, referring to an elite Hamas commando unit.
MK Ahmad Tibi (TA'AL): To insert a stick in a person's rectum, is that legitimate???
MK Hanoch Milwidsky (Likud): Yes! If he is a Nukhba everything is legitimate to do him!
Some of you have probably already heard about the events in Sde Teiman concentration camp today: MPs came… pic.twitter.com/JynQZOqnDH
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) July 29, 2024
Erez Tadmor, a former speechwriter for Netanyahu,
claimed that Sde Teiman prisoners may have raped themselves.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel denounced the alleged rape of the Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman.
"Since the beginning of the war, we claimed that the Sde Teiman was operating as an 'ex-territory', and the soldiers stationed there were acting outside any law—first in their treatment of detainees, and now towards military law enforcement agents," the group said.
"Instead of absolute condemnation, some Israeli far-right leaders have rallied to support the suspects of abuse, which is emblematic of the root causes that enable such abuse to happen in the first place," the group added.
Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director of the Association of Rape Crises Centers in Israel, told Haaretz she is "shocked" by the Sde Teiman rape allegation.
"There will never be any circumstances that would justify the use of this sickening practice, not even against the worst of our enemies," he said. "Sexual harm and sexual abuse are serious crimes and we must not remain silent when they happen."
Former prisoners including children and Israeli whistleblowers at Sde Teiman—often called "Israel's Guantánamo Bay"—have described rampant torture and abuse at the facility, which is used to imprison Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip. According to their testimonies, prisoners have been raped, electrocuted, mauled by dogs, burned with cigarettes, severely beaten, starved, and subjected to 24-hour shackling sometimes leading to amputations.
The New York Times reported last month that one former Sde Teiman prisoner said he was forced to "sit on something like a hot metal stick and it felt like fire," and that another detainee "died after they put the electric stick" up his anus.
IDF officials told Haaretz last month that the IDF is investigating the in-custody deaths of dozens of detainees, including 36 who died or were killed at Sde Teiman since October.
Palestinians formerly held at Sde Teiman said groups of 10-20 Israeli civilians were allowed to record torture sessions in which the men, stripped nearly naked, were beaten with metal batons, electrocuted, and had hot water poured over their heads. The ex-prisoners said some of the Israelis laughed while filming their torture.
On Tuesday, Israel's High Court of Justice said it will hold a second hearing on August 7 regarding a petition seeking to close Sde Teiman over alleged torture and abuse committed there, The Times of Israel reported.
Also on Tuesday in a separate case from the nine arrests, an IDF reservist identified as Staff Sgt. Yisrael Zakaria Hajbi was indicted for allegedly using "severe violence against the detainees he was entrusted with guarding" at Sde Teiman and filming the abuse.
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