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by Ahmed Asmar

Israel has long been a racist and fascist state that seeks to dehumanise Palestinians in every possible way. The latest stark example of this reality was the gang rape crime committed by Israeli soldiers against a Palestinian detainee in the notorious Sde Teiman military prison. Yet, what shocked the Israeli government was not the horrific assault itself, but rather the fact that the footage documenting it was leaked to the media.

In the past week, the Israeli government and military establishment have been preoccupied with blaming Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Israeli army’s top military prosecutor, for being behind the leaked video—eventually pushing her to resign on Friday amid calls from several Israeli politicians to hold her accountable for the leak. She is also expected to face further questioning in the coming days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself declared that the leak had harmed Israel’s image, describing it as the most “severe public relations attack” on Israel.

This reveals that Israel’s outrage was not over the gang rape crime itself, nor did it carry out a credible or genuine investigation to hold the perpetrators accountable. Rather, the regime’s main concern has been to discover how the footage of such a ruthless and inhumane act found its way to the public.

The leaked footage dates back to August 2024, during Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. It shows Israeli soldiers grabbing and leading away a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner before surrounding him with riot shields to obscure the rape. The crime sparked a backlash, highlighting Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinian prisoners, especially those arrested from Gaza during its genocidal war. Since October 2023, more than 80 Palestinian detainees have been killed in Israeli jails due to torture, abuse, and medical negligence.

In response to the leaked video, Israel announced it would conduct an investigation and detain the suspect soldiers. However, this move was nothing more than a charade – a familiar attempt to appease international outrage while ensuring that no real accountability is achieved. Not a single Israeli soldier or settler has ever faced genuine punishment for crimes against Palestinians. In fact, incidents like this only reaffirm that such assaults and abuses are systematic and often encouraged by top Israeli leadership.

Israel’s so-called justice system has long been an instrument of deception; a façade meant to convince the world that there is a functioning rule of law, but in reality, it exists to protect the occupation and those who enforce it.

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The case of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist working for Al Jazeera, is a powerful example. She was shot and killed on 11 May 2022 while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Under international pressure, Israel conducted an internal investigation that concluded the killing was “accidental” and that no criminal charges would be filed. This contradicted multiple independent journalistic investigations, which confirmed that Abu Akleh was deliberately targeted, despite wearing clear press markings.

Another case is that of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American activist who was shot in the head in September 2024 while participating in a peaceful protest against Israeli settlements near Nablus. The Israeli military later admitted it was “highly likely” that its forces had fired the shot but described it as “indirect and unintentional.” Again, no one was held accountable.

These examples, among many others, demonstrate that Israel’s investigations into crimes against Palestinians, activists, and journalists are nothing but sham proceedings, a calculated performance to deceive global public opinion into believing there is justice in Israel. In truth, the Israeli judiciary is a political tool for maintaining the occupation and shielding its enforcers.

The Sde Teiman gang rape and the controversy over the leaked video are further evidence of the moral bankruptcy of the Israeli system, in particular its justice system. The crime and its cover-up show that the regime’s priorities are not justice, humanity, or accountability, but rather the preservation of its image and the protection of its soldiers even if they commit crimes. To the regime, the true crime was not the rape itself but the exposure of its cruelty, the tearing down of the carefully maintained façade of “Israeli democracy” and “rule of law.”

For decades, Palestinians have endured a pattern of Israeli brutality met with international silence. The complicity of Western governments and the shameful inaction of the international community have been central to this cycle. By providing unwavering diplomatic cover and blocking accountability at forums like the UN Security Council – the US administration has used its veto power at least three times in favor of Israel since October 2023; these powers have sent a clear message: Israel’s crimes carry no consequence.

The outrage in Israel over the Sde Teiman leak reveals the regime’s deepest fear: exposure. It fears the world seeing beyond its propaganda and witnessing the raw, unfiltered truth of its occupation. In this twisted system, the villain is Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, accused of leaking the video, not the soldiers who committed the gang rape. As for justice for the Palestinian victim, such a notion does not exist under Israel’s shambolic, biased, and complicit justice system.

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.