For the past few weeks, Israel has been caught up in a scandal around torture at its Sde Teiman detention camp involving an act so nauseatingly heinous, you should only keep reading if you have a strong stomach.
In late July, ten Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers at the facility were arrested for raping a male inmate, specifically by inserting something into his anus that damaged his internal organs and necessitated surgery to save his life. The arrests sparked a riot by far-right politicians and other extremists outraged at the punishment, who stormed the prison and another military base.
Then, at the start of August, respected Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a report detailing the unspeakable torture at the facility, titled “Welcome to Hell.” Roughly a week later, as the soldiers went on trial, both the United States and the European Union felt the need to publicly express horror at the torture and call for an investigation. About this same time, video footage of the rape was unearthed and publicly released.
If you’re a devoted New York Times reader, you likely have no idea almost any of this happened.
That’s because the paper of record, which has come under fire over the past ten months for its coverage of the war, has hardly covered the scandal, and when it has, has tended to entomb the news far beyond its front page, where most readers are likely to see it. This despite the paper’s extensive coverage of the sexual violence carried out by Hamas fighters on October 7, which it has received widespread calls for review and potentially even retraction after independent reporters found serious issues with its sourcing and accuracy.
The Times is far from alone. The IDF rape scandal has fared little better…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Branko Marcetic
