Social media accounts shared and posted a screenshot from the Israeli Channel 12 showing what it looks like results of a poll regarding the Israeli occupation soldiers raping Palestinian prisoners, the question of the poll being: “Do you agree with the claim that a soldier is allowed to rape a terrorist?”
The screenshot was captioned: “A poll by Channel 12: 47% of Israelis support the rape of Palestinian prisoners in prisons by an Israeli jailer, compared to 43% who answered no.”
Kashif verified the image through the reverse search tool, and found that the image was manipulated with the allegation being misleading, and found that Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” published the original image on 2 October 2023, the question of the poll being: “Do you agree with the claim that the government (the government of Naftali Bent and Yair Lapid) is based on terrorists (Mansour Abbas’s party).”
Haaretz had published the photo in a report titled: “A leading Israeli news channel apologizes for the poll of “supporters of terrorism.” While the newspaper attached the picture with the following description: “Channel 12 political analyst, Amit Singal, asked the question of the poll in May of 2022.”
In front of cameras: Rape of Palestinian prisoner in “Sidi Timan”
The Israeli-Hebrew Channel 12 published on Tuesday, 6 August 2024, a video clip leaked from the “Sidi Timan” prison in the Negev desert documenting the sexual assault of the a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza by Israeli soldiers by inserting an object in his arse, which resulted in his transfer to the hospital as a result of rupture of the rectum, fractures in the ribs and ruptures in the intestines.
The channel said that the prisoner had no role in the events of last October 7, but a Hamas police officer who worked in the fight against drugs. Channel 12 said they (the soldiers) were clearly aware of the security cameras and were trying to hide their actions with armor.
While Ynet added that “in the hands of military police investigators some evidence reinforcing suspicions that prison trainers in the reserve service committed an act of sodomy against the prisoner who was being held,” the site added that “a medical report indicates that the prisoner was hospitalized as a result of serious buttock injuries, and suffered severe bleeding due to a serious injury to his anus that allegedly occurred using a tool.”
The official and public reactions
The military police in the Israeli occupation state raided the “Sidi Timan” prison on 29 July 2024, arresting 9 out of 10 soldiers suspected of sexually assaulting the Palestinian prisoner.
Israeli ministers and officials defended those soldiers.
“The scene of military police officers coming to arrest our best heroes in Sidi Timan is nothing less than a shame,” Homeland Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir said in a statement.
“We all have to embrace and greet them, not question and humiliate them,” Energy Minister Eli Cohen said in a post on “X”.
“Our soldiers are not criminals and this despicable pursuit of our soldiers is unacceptable to me,” Parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein said via X.
Many civilians with the support of dozens of reservists, stormed the “Sidi Timan” camp, and dozens of demonstrators, including masked soldiers stormed the military court in Beit Lead, in protest against the arrest of soldiers suspected of the attack.
The Palestinian Prisoner Club renewed its call on the United Nations and its specialized organizations to conduct an impartial international investigation into the systematic torture of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, part of which was revealed through media leaks and dozens of testimonies documented by competent institutions, which necessitated the conviction and accountability of the Israeli occupation.