Bulletin No48 juillet 2024 Israeli soldiers and torture
Yet another case of torture carried out by the occupying army
A detainee from the Gaza Strip was the victim of gang rape perpetrated by Israeli soldiers at the Sde Teiman prison in southern Israel, the “Israeli Guantanamo”. Citing a security source, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that the detainee was taken to hospital with serious injuries to an intimate part of his body, which left him unable to walk.
Faced with the scale of the abuse, the Israeli army was forced to arrest 10 soldiers in order to question them about this horrible abuse.
Mistreatment, including rape, is recurrent in Zionist jails. A few years ago, the Israeli Supreme Court authorized the use of torture in certain situations. The West, which gives the Zionist state the “right to defend itself,” has never condemned these practices, although they are well known. And our media at the service of Western multinationals haven't said a word about it.
However, since the start of the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, several reports have emerged of serious abuses committed against Palestinian detainees in this infamous detention center. The Israeli army has incarcerated thousands of Palestinians, including women, children and doctors, since October 7, 2023. It has released dozens of Palestinian detainees from Gaza in recent months, in degraded health and with marks of torture on his body.
Israeli fascists come to the aid of the guilty
However, a certain number of Zionists do not even tolerate the indictment of these soldiers.
Dozens of Israelis burst into the building of the Israeli military court at the Beit Lid military base in central Israel on Monday evening, July 29, to protest against the arrest of soldiers accused of this sexual assault . According to the Israeli daily Haaretz , around 200 far-right activists stormed the court where the accused soldiers are being held. He added that guards failed to prevent protesters, including masked soldiers, from entering the building. The demonstrators included masked and armed people, as well as fascist Knesset MKs Zvi Sukkot, Tally Gotliv and Yitzhak Kroizer, all members of the government coalition parties.
Several fascist ministers gave their support to these demonstrators. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the suspected soldiers as “ heroic warriors ,” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who manages the prisons where Palestinians are held, called them “ the best heroes .” He also described these arrests as “ shameful ”. Like these declarations, many demonstrators present in front of the Beit Lid base spoke of “ heroes ” who, as such, cannot be accused of anything if it involves torture against Palestinians.
If the head of the army, General Herzi Halevi reacted: “ Intruding into a military base and disturbing the order there is serious behavior which is in no way acceptable ”, MP Yuli Edelstein, president of The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, a leading Likud member, declared “ Our soldiers are not criminals and this despicable pursuit of our soldiers is unacceptable to me .”
Proof if any were needed, that this justification of the torture inflicted on Palestinian prisoners is not the sole act of a few fanaticized settlers, but covers a much broader spectrum of Zionist society.
Golan events
12 dead on the occupied Syrian Golan
Saturday July 27, 12 young people from the Druze community of the Syrian Golan occupied by the Zionist army were hit by a rocket fire from Lebanon in the village of Majdal Chams and died. Washington and the Zionist state blamed Hezbollah, which denied launching the rocket.
Occupied since 1973, this part of the Golan Heights which belongs to Syria was illegally annexed by Israel. The population living there is mainly made up of Druze, Arabs with a particular rite, neither Christian nor Muslim. There are Israeli Druze, living on the soil of the Zionist state, who are second-class Israeli citizens, with the word Druze on their identity card. But the Druze of the Golan overwhelmingly remained Syrian nationals, even after the war organized by Western imperialists in Syria, which saw some of them in turn become Israeli citizens.
New provocation and new crime of the Zionists
The Israeli Prime Minister, returning from the United States, visited the Golan in a communications operation of which he is fond. Unfortunately for him, there as in Tel Aviv where he is regularly jeered by demonstrators for his warlike policy which prevents the return of the hostages, dozens of residents of Majdal Shams gathered against him, some shouting “ murderer, murderer ”. Questioned by AFP, a Druze resident, Kamil Khater, explained: “In the Golan we only want peace. Let Netanyahu go home! It was because of him that the war broke out .”
Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday July 29 to provide a “ severe response ” to this rocket attack. And on Tuesday the 30th, an Israeli rocket hit a building in Haret Hreikr, a densely populated neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Zionists targeted Fouad Chokr, a senior commander in the Hezbollah armed militia. If Israel claims to have killed him, the National Information Agency of Lebanon draws a report of 4 dead (2 women and 2 children) and 77 injured.
However, after Netanyahu's visit to Majdal Shams, Druze leaders in the Golan issued a statement emphasizing that " the tragedy is immense, the impact is painful and the loss is shared by all households in the Golan ." But, because of the Druze doctrine which “ prohibits murder and revenge in any form whatsoever, we reject the shedding of even a drop of blood under the pretext of avenging our children ”, add- they.
During an interview with the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera, Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the PSP, Progressive Socialist Party, considered the leader of the Druze community in Lebanon, estimated that Tel Aviv " lies " and that Hezbollah " respects the rules of engagement in its operations and responds when Israel violates them .” For him, Netanyahu “ can only be dissuaded (from continuing this war) if the United States stops supplying him with weapons and ammunition .”
Risk of extension of the conflict
After this Israeli strike, the risk of extension of the conflict is more present than ever. Fearing a large-scale war, several Western airlines, including Air France and Lufthansa, have suspended their flights to Beirut. The United Kingdom on Monday advised its nationals to leave Lebanon.
The Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, calmed things down: “ Any war against Lebanon will spread throughout the region, and Israel will suffer losses ,” he said on the channel. SkyNews. According to Al-Qahira News, Beirut called on the United States to urge Israel to rein itself in amid regional tensions. Despite the voices of the fascists in his coalition who advocate total war, Benjamin Netanyahu is content to take advantage of the political advantage he could gain from the situation. Despite the ovation received in front of the American Congress, boycotted by half of the elected Democrats, he knows that his visions for Gaza are not necessarily the same as for the great ally, from which he needs arms supplies in particular. He should therefore be content with numerous but targeted strikes in Lebanon. More than extension, it is probably the continuation of the war for as long as possible that he aims.
The imperialists and their lackeys are preparing for the post-war period in Gaza
Netanyahu's position
In his speech, delivered on July 24 before the United States Congress, the Zionist Prime Minister delivered his core thoughts. He first declared that the war in Gaza would be over tomorrow if Hamas " surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages ." But if this is not the case, Israel will fight until the outright destruction of the Palestinian organization. “ My vision for today is a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza ,” he stressed. Israel “ does not seek to resettle in Gaza ,” he said, “ but must maintain general security control for the future.” (…) Gaza should have a civilian administration led by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel .” All Palestinian organizations whatever they may be considered by him and the Likud as " terrorists ", all that remains is to find local potentates, as was the case in the 1950s, devoid of any inclination to self-determination, or he puts forward a smokescreen and prepares to organize, according to the advice of his fascist allies, the recolonization of Gaza and its direct annexation. And, if he did not say it clearly, for the West Bank, the future would be annexation.
Frogs from the USA and certain Arab countries
On July 18, a secret meeting, revealed by Axios News, brought together, in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah bin Zayed (ABZ), Joe Biden's main adviser for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, and the minister Israeli for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer. The aim of this meeting: to study the different possible scenarios for “ the day after ”, that is to say after the end of the war in the Gaza Strip. ABZ special envoy Lana Nusseibeh reported the same day in the Financial Times that the United Arab Emirates was ready to deploy an armed force (Egypt agreed) in the Gaza Strip after the war, with other Arab partners and under the leadership of the USA. This Gulf monarchy, which normalized its relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, thus shows that it intends to play an active role in Middle Eastern affairs. The USA would not be against a resettlement of members of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, but on condition of choosing them. However, the advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), is none other than Mohammed Dahlan, former head of preventive security in the Gaza Strip. It was he who, in 2007, with his men, unsuccessfully confronted Hamas. Subsequently, he was expelled from Fatah, the party of Mahmoud Abbas, and accused of having embezzled millions of dollars. Dahlan does not hide his ambitions, in particular that of replacing the current president of the PA, with the help of the United Arab Emirates and the USA.
The Palestinians, largely absent from the negotiations
The grain of sand in this machine which wants to be well-oiled, despite the disagreements between Israel and the United States, is the Palestinians who are not asked for their opinion, including the PA potentates in Ramallah, whom the We sometimes invite, but just as flower pots. However, on July 23, as we said last week, fourteen Palestinian organizations, in Beijing, approved a declaration calling for the formation of a Palestinian unity government which will supervise the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip and who will organize elections.
In effect, this agreement blocks Israeli efforts to create some kind of collaborative structure against Palestinian interests. A headache for the United States and certain Arab countries since this government of national unity would also be supported by Hamas.
The assassination of Ismaël Haniyeh
Second assassination for the Zionists
It is in this context that on Wednesday July 31, Israel committed a second murderous act by launching a rocket at the residence in Tehran of the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismaël Haniyeh, who died along with one of his bodyguards. in the attack.
This unjustifiable act sparked outraged reactions, marking fears of a general extension of the conflict.
Former French ambassador to Jordan, declared to Le Figaro: “The assassination of the Hamas leader is another step towards conflagration in the Middle East. ".
“ The occupation is responsible for this attack and the United States also bears responsibility ,” declared a senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nounou.
International reactions
In Iran, President Massoud Pezeshkian castigated the Zionists for killing Ismaïl Haniyé, who came to attend his inauguration ceremony in the capital Tehran, and declared: “ The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity, its honor, its pride and dignity, and will make the terrorist invaders regret their cowardly act .”
Mahmoud Abbas, Qatar, China, Russia, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Hezbollah notably condemned this assassination. The Syrian Foreign Minister estimated that Haniyeh's death could “ set the entire region ablaze ”.
In the West Bank, protest demonstrations took place, Palestinian organizations and trade unions called for a general strike on July 31. In East Jerusalem, shops are closed as a sign of mourning. “What is happening is not in the interest of Israel, of the Palestinians, or of the whole world,” a Palestinian from Jerusalem told France 24; “Enough is enough. Even the Jews are tired, and so are we,” he adds.
Zionist dignitaries from the ruling coalition welcomed the terrorist act perpetrated by their government.
All this confirms that Netanyahu absolutely does not want peace, but the continuation of the war, whatever the cost, is that he is ready to drag his allies into a wider war, into a regional conflagration.
In Conclusion
The Communist Revolutionary Party denounces the assassination of leaders of the Palestinian Resistance forces, however far they may be from Marxism, which was the case of Haniyeh. He denounces the continuation of the war, the risks of conflagration wanted by the Zionists alone.
Despite all the means deployed to silence solidarity with the Palestinians, despite blocked “ information ”, no one, neither media nor Western government, can prevent workers, youth, people from knowing that the population of Gaza is undergoing genocide. and to understand that the colonial nature of the Zionist state explains this genocide and implies that it cannot be part of any real peace, it is the main obstacle.
We continue, tirelessly, to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire, as well as free access for humanitarian workers throughout the Gaza Strip, or the total withdrawal of the occupying forces from the enclave. But this cannot be enough.
A just peace means the dismantling of settlements, the return of refugees and a truly independent Palestinian state. What prevents such peace is the existence of a colonial state. The workers of Israel cannot be free if they do not break with Zionism, if they continue to find themselves objectively in the camp of the colonizers. Solidarity with Palestine cannot be satisfied with general phrases about peace. We need a state where all inhabitants enjoy the same rights and can live together, whatever their origin and religion in this case, a democratic Palestinian state.
This is why the Communist Revolutionary Party intends, despite the obstacles, to continue to bring together all those who want an immediate ceasefire so that the massacre of the Palestinians stops and to speak out for peace. For us, this involves supporting the fundamental demands of the Palestinian national liberation movement, especially after the assassination of one of its leaders: an immediate end to Zionist military aggression, the right of refugees to return and the formation of a state. Palestinian in the territory of Mandatory Palestine.