The news from the occupied territories is grim. For those that have kept up with the plight and suffering of the Palestinian people this is not news at all. That Israel has been kidnapping Palestinian children in the middle of the night and torturing them so that they incriminate their friends and family. More below
A new article and exposé by abc.net.au and four corners shows that hundreds of children each year are being arrested for bogus reasons. At times in the middle of the night. They are then tortured with electric shock, beating, “stress positions”, and threats of death, violence, and sexual violence towards their family.
Qsai Zamara, 14, says he was taken from his bed during a night raid on his family home in a Palestinian village and then taken to prison by the Israeli army.
He has told Four Corners he was whipped and threatened into falsely confessing that he threw stones at the army.
"There was this big machine with all the electric wires in it, connected to the electricity. He wanted to give me electric shock with it," he said.
Fathi Mahfouz says he was arrested when he was 15 for something he did not do and taken to prison, where he was given electric shocks.
"Because I didn't confess he sent me to a room that has a cross in it, and hung me on it. I was hung and he kept hitting me," he said.
It only gets worse as it has been alleged that the IDF uses attack dogs as a tool for interrogation. In one instance they put food around a child’s genitals area and unleashing a dog to eat the food around that area. In another instance, an interrogator threatened a child with rape and further violence until the child signed a bogus confession.
The children are then told that it can all be stopped if they become collaborators for the occupiers. That the torture and the threats will all go away if they inform on their family and friends as well as incriminate leaders of nonviolent protest movements.
When everything is done, what is left is a damaged child who’s heart is filled with terror. Terror put there by the occupation regime.
I am distressed that not only are there individuals in the progressive party that condone the right wing Israeli government, but individuals on this very site promote and defend this illegal and racist occupation.
All I can do is urge everyone to watch this exposé and read what unicef has written and decide for yourself.