Israel’s focus on political drama rather than Palestinian rape victim

The revelation past week by Israel’s apical subject lawyer, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, that she leaked the footage of a pack rape of a Palestinian detainee astatine the Sde Teiman subject detention centre successful 2024 has shaken the country’s governmental and media establishment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – whose enactment of the genocidal warfare connected Gaza has drawn planetary condemnation – called the leak “perhaps the astir terrible nationalist relations onslaught that the State of Israel has experienced”. Critics of Netanyahu’s presumption travel from constitution voices hopeless to support the judiciary and authorities institutions, which they judge Netanyahu and his allies are exploiting the leak to undermine.

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Lost amid headlines fuelled by the leak’s admittance is the pack rape of the Palestinian captive astatine Sde Teiman connected July 5, 2024. The onslaught was truthful brutal that the antheral was admitted to infirmary with what the Israeli regular Haaretz revealed was a ruptured bowel, terrible anal and lung injuries, and breached ribs – injuries that aboriginal required surgery.

“It’s a immense communicative successful Israel, but you won’t spot the connection ‘rape’ anyplace successful it,” Orly Noy, exertion of the Hebrew connection Local Call, told Al Jazeera. “The contextualisation of the communicative is wholly antithetic present than thing you oregon I mightiness see.”

Instead of focusing connected the rape and the ongoing ineligible proceedings against the 5 suspects, the communicative has alternatively centred connected Tomer-Yerushalmi and those accused of helping her screen up the leak.

Speaking connected Israeli tv connected Saturday night, a subordinate of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, Energy Minister Eli Cohen, told viewers that Tomer-Yerushalmi was “supposed to beryllium the bulletproof vest, the protector, of the [Israeli military] soldiers”.

“Instead of that, she stabbed them successful the back,” helium said astir the lawyer who leaked footage of soldiers appearing to rape a prisoner. “In this case, we are talking astir treason.”

Defence Minister Israel Katz was nary little damning, releasing astatine slightest 7 statements targeting the subject lawyer successful a week and accusing her of participating successful “blood libel” against the 5 alleged rapists.

The politicisation of rape

Focusing connected Tomer-Yerushalmi, alternatively than the alleged rapists, is thing new.

The erstwhile main subject advocator had been the taxable of governmental unit and accusations of covering up the root of the leak since the archetypal reports of the rape emerged successful August 2024. That unit continued to build, culminating successful the announcement from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara successful aboriginal October of an probe into the root of the leak.

On Friday, November 1, Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned and admitted that she had been the root of the leak. Two days later, she was reported missing for respective hours pursuing the find of what friends and household disquieted was a termination note, which prompted a large-scale search.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the leaked footage showing the alleged rape of a Palestinian captive by soldiers was ‘blood libel’ against the attack’s perpetrators [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

Within hours of being recovered safe, Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested, and the termination enactment was dismissed by Israeli prosecutors arsenic a ploy. She has been charged with aggregate offences, including fraud, breach of trust, obstruction of justice, and maltreatment of office.

Since Sunday, constabulary person besides arrested the military’s erstwhile main prosecutor, Colonel Matan Solomosh, connected suspicion of helping Tomer-Yerushalmi screen up the leak. There person besides been suggestions that the lawyer wide and her unit whitethorn person been involved.

“Rape doesn’t matter,” said governmental expert Ori Goldberg, referring to however Israeli authorities are responding to quality of the leak. “What matters is the pistillate who leaked the portion and what they privation to telephone the heavy state.”

“For Netanyahu and others, this is grounds that the heavy authorities has gotten excessively large for its britches and that, by accusing Tomer-Yerushalmi of collaborating with the lawyer general, they person grounds of the treachery and a further means of undermining immoderate civilian oversight determination whitethorn beryllium implicit their workings.”

The ‘deep state’

Netanyahu and his allies’ combat with the judiciary dates backmost to what his critics telephone the “judicial coup” of 2023, erstwhile helium projected a sweeping legislative overhaul of Israel’s judicial system. He has besides faced aggregate charges of corruption since 2019.

The premier minister’s projected judicial reforms would assistance his right-wing conjugation the state to enactment without the cheque of the Supreme Court, perchance starring to a further crackdown connected dissent and the rights of Palestinians.

Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara listens connected arsenic she attends a furniture gathering astatine the Bible Lands Museum successful Jerusalem [Gil Cohen-Magen/Reuters]

Attorney General Baharav-Miara has recovered herself successful the firing enactment for resisting those reforms. In 2023, she issued ineligible guidance opposing the projected judicial overhaul, penning that it would undermine Israel’s checks and balances, and that it was “a definite look for harming quality rights and cleanable governance”. She besides told the premier curate to region himself from the judicial reforms, noting that it would beryllium a struggle of involvement amid his ain corruption trial.

“They privation to screen up the rape,” Aida Touma-Suleiman, a subordinate of the Israeli parliament representing the left-wing Hadash-Ta’al faction, told Al Jazeera. “That’s wherefore they’re dealing with the prosecutors and not the transgression itself.”

“Benjamin Netanyahu is utilizing this, conscionable similar the close helping is utilizing this. They’ve been repeating the aforesaid messaging ever since the communicative broke. This is however the judiciary works. These are your alleged checks and balances. Look astatine them, they’re criminals.”

Justice lost

Amid the governmental furore, the likelihood of prosecuting the alleged rapists appears to beryllium diminishing.

On Monday, it emerged that the rape unfortunate had been returned to Gaza successful October arsenic portion of the speech of captives, starring to speculation that helium mightiness not look successful proceedings against his alleged attackers.

Five of those indicted for the battle saw their charges downgraded to “severely abusing” the detainee connected Sunday, erstwhile they appeared extracurricular Israel’s Supreme Court wearing balaclavas to fell their identity.

A lawyer for the suspects, Moshe Polsky, told journalists that his clients could not expect a just proceedings owed to the leak, saying “the instrumentality cannot beryllium turned back” and that, consequently, the indictment process had been tainted.

One suspect, who declined to beryllium identified, described himself and his chap suspects arsenic loyal patriots wrongfully targeted by a ineligible strategy they spot arsenic undermining their service. “We knew we had to support the state [following the October 7 attack],” helium said.

“Since that day, dozens of fighters are inactive warring for justness not connected the battlefield, but successful courtrooms.”

For observers specified arsenic writer Noy, however, determination is small to bash with justness successful the saga of accusation, counter-accusation and cover-up that has travel to overshadow the brutal rape of a captive successful Israeli custody.

“For the 2 sides, this is each astir the strategy and thing to bash with the Palestinian victim,” she reflected.

“One broadside sees it arsenic [about] the aged elite protecting itself, and the different astir safeguarding the institutions of the state,” Noy said. “But don’t forget, these are the aforesaid institutions they request to support to proceed the maltreatment of Palestinians. These are the defences they connection up whenever they’re criticised from overseas.”