The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem paints a grim picture of prison conditions in Israel. Sexual violence and beatings against Palestinian prisoners is a daily occurrence.
Israeli TV channel 12 recently showed a surveillance video of prison guards sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner. The video was filmed in the prison maintained by the Sde Teiman military base.
The video shows how more than 20 prisoners lie in the same room. The guards retrieve one blindfolded prisoner. They lead the prisoner aside.
The soldiers make a visual barrier, under the cover of which they beat the prisoner.
The video shown by the TV channel is evidence of the systematic torture and abuse that takes place in Israeli prisons, as well as sexual, other physical and mental humiliation.
Racism behind prison conditions
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem published a report shedding light on prison conditions a little over a week ago. The title of the report is “Welcome to Hell” i.e. “Welcome to Hell”.
– Prison conditions are controlled by the Minister of National Security of Itamar Ben-Gvir racist thinking. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports it, a spokesperson for B’Tselem Sarit Michaeli says.
Dozens of Palestinian prisoners have been interviewed for B’Tselem’s report. The prisoners’ message is consistent: conditions in Israeli prisons have collapsed since the terrorist organization Hamas carried out devastating terrorist attacks from Gaza to the Israeli side last October.
According to the organization, Israeli prisons have turned into a network of torture camps.
The beating is streamed to the minister
A former prisoner interviewed by the British broadcasting company BBC Firas Hassan tells how Ketzioti prison, where he was, changed quickly after the terrorist attacks of October 7 last year.
– 20 masked guards beat us with batons, sticks and guns. They also set dogs on us, Firas Hassan tells the BBC.
He recalls the situation two days after the terrorist attacks.
According to Firas Hassan, the beating lasted almost an hour. The prisoners were blindfolded and their hands were tied behind their backs.
– That’s all I could see was that they filmed the beating.
Firas Hassan tells a very gruesome example of beatings and humiliation in B’Tselem’s report.
– I heard the guard say that we will stream this to Ben-Gvir.
British According to the Guardian newspaper during the filmed and streamed beating, one fellow inmate was beaten to death.
Water torture and starvation
The Minister of National Security, far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, has said that he is satisfied with the change in prison conditions in Israel.
– In Ketzioti prison they say I’m crazy and proud of it. I am proud of how conditions in prisons have changed, Itamar Ben-Gvir said a while ago in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
Palestinians brought from Gaza as well as Palestinians imprisoned in the West Bank and Jerusalem are subjected to violence in Israeli prisons. Palestinians living and imprisoned in the territory of the State of Israel are also subjected to inhumane treatment.
B’Tselem also creates a picture of the horrors of Israeli prisons A recent UN report on prison conditions in Israel. According to the UN report, prisoners have been beaten and subjected to water torture.
The interviewed prisoners have also told about sleep deprivation, limiting water intake and starvation. Many prisoners have lost up to 20-30 kilograms during their years of imprisonment.
What is essential is that Palestinian prisoners languish in Israeli prisons without charge and without trial.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly denied the International Red Cross access to inspect prison conditions. According to Israel, its prisons operate according to international regulations.
Israeli prison authorities said they were investigating possible abuses in Israeli prisons. The authorities have not disclosed the details of the investigations.