A copy of the B’Tsleem Report can be found here
Introduction
Since the horrific Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, we havebeen hearing every day of more and more crimes and atrocities that would have been unthinkable in the not-too-distant past. Tens of thousands of civilians killed,entire neighborhoods obliterated, over a million people turned refugees in one fell swoop, civilians taken hostage and held as bargaining chips. In the West Bank, settler violence is surging, a massive expulsion of Palestinian communities is underway, and violence by Israeli armed forces is rampant. Countless human-made disaster that the mind cannot countenance and the heart cannot contain. Amid this tragic reality, state mechanisms are undergoing terrifying systemic changes, in a cynical exploitation of the loss, fear and vengefulness sweeping the country.
My Comments will be limited as it is a long painful read c117 pages.
Conclusion
Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and imprisoned in Israeli prisons since 7 October 2023, most of them without trial. Testimonies B’Tselem collected from 55 released male and female inmates, expose what is going on inside Israeli prison facilities and tell the story of ongoing torture, abuse, inhuman conditions and denial of basic needs such as food, water and medical care. The information consistently repeated across these testimonies reveals an institutionalized, efficient, systematic mechanism that has made violence, humiliation and degradation integral to the routine imposed upon all Palestinians classified as "security prisoners", in 17 different civilian and military prison facilities, since the war began.
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We appeal to all nations and to all international institutions and bodies to do everything in their power to put an immediate end to the cruelties meted out on Palestinians by Israel’s prison system, and to recognize the Israeli regime operating this system as an apartheid regime that must come to an end.
This is what can happen when you spend decades dehumanizing a specific population
Former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman described Palestinians as "horrible, inhuman animals” in a TV interview this week, saying he is "puzzled" by the concern over their fate in the ongoing Israeli war amid a tightened blockade on Gaza.
Gillerman made the remarks during an interview with Britain’s Sky News channel when he was asked to comment on the UN’s concerns over Israel’s "collective punishment" of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip through a blockade and the cutting off of fuel.
A more well-known incident
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says he has ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, as Israel fights the Hamas terror group.
“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant says following an assessment at the IDF Southern Command in Beersheba.
“We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” he adds.
I know the US has independently moved on from its well-documented torture in Afghanistan and Iraq and its extraordinary rendition program.
Remember how the Necons tried to wiggle out of the guilt by calling it enhanced interrogation?
I expect the Israeli Government to use the same gobbledegook.
If you have a strong stomach, read the report.
A morning Muse
~A
