Israeli ministers and politicians have defended soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian after a shocking video of an alleged gang rape at the Sde Teiman detention facility surfaced this week.
Israel’s far right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, condemned the people responsible for the video surfacing, rather than the soldiers carrying out the rape.
Writing on social media platform X, he called for an “immediate criminal investigation to locate the leakers of the trending video that was intended to harm the reservists and that caused tremendous damage to Israel.”
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also suggested that any action, including gang rape, is allowed if it is for the security of the state.
Ben-Gvir, who is also responsible for the prison service, told Israeli media that it was “shameful” for Israel to arrest “our best heroes” after soldiers were arrested on 29 July in relation to the rape case. ….more
