1/ The domestic debate here about the rape of a Palestinian inmate at one of our torture centers may be a bit misleading. Footage from parliamentary discussions made it seem like some of us were opposed to rape and others considered it legitimate. I'd like to unpack it. --->
2/ Briefly, Israeli military police raided Sdeh Teiman, Israel's main concentration camp for Gazans captured over the past 10 months. The reason? A Palestinian prisoner had been gang-raped so severely he was taken to an outside hospital and the news leaked. --->
3/ The second reason? The Israeli justice system wantes to demonstrate to the ICC that it can investigate itself ("Complementarity"), in the hopes of delaying the issuing of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and defense minister Gallant. So the MPs were dispatched. --->
4/ The suspects, all prison guards, refused arrest and began physically fighting with the MPs. Meanwhile, news of the raid had spread on rightwing whatsapp groups and hundreds (including national politicians) rushed to the site, ultimately raiding the fortified camp. --->
5/ Our parliament held furious debates, as did the media and social networks. On the one hand, supporters of the rapists claimed they shouldn't have been arrested so violently because they are Israeli soldiers and their victim was a "Nukhba terrorist", the vilest of men. --->
6/ On the other hand rose Israeli liberals, defenders of law and order, who accused their rivals of supporting "rape culture" and were mostly angry about the "politicization of the military" and the lawlessness of raiding a fortified base. The whole debate was a sham. Why? --->
7/ Because neither side cared in any way about the violated Palestinian body. The guards and their supporters on the right stated unequivocally that Israeli soldiers can and should do whatever their heart desires to Palestinian "terrorists". And really to all Palestinians. --->
8/ Their rivals, the liberals, constantly repeated that "the law" came first, even when we were talking about evil incarnate like the prisoners in Sdeh Teiman. The basic premise was that Palestinian lives, the Palestinian body, were either plunder or worthless, or both. --->
9/ In other words, the basic premise was that Israelis really could do anything they wanted to Palestinians with no reproach whatsoever. The only issue was whether they were doing it in accordance with Israeli law (allowing rampart torture) or the divine law of retribution. --->
10/ The rapists claimed this divine privilege. The liberals could suddenly deflect global criticism of "Israel" by claiming (as they have been doing for two years) that "Israel had been hijacked" by Netanyahu and his supporters. Let "us" take control and all will be well. --->
11/ The stasis bubble had grown whole again. It was all about us! Our domestic battles were the most important thing in the world! We liberals will show those barbarians the power of the law! We patriots will show those fifth columnists what real patriotism looks like! --->
12/ The violated body of the Palestinian prisoner was a prop. The genocide we are still perpetrating in Gaza is "unfortunate", but what choice do we have? We still stand in massive support of "the war". We think we are taking "preventive measures". We are already gone.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
