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THE harrowing details of the widespread torture and sexual violence inflicted on Palestinian prisoners — men, women and children — by Israeli forces, as chronicled by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, are a damning indictment of the so-called civilised world that looks the other way when war crimes are committed by the Zionist state. Kristof’s account, published last week, is based on interviews with a number of Palestinians who have experienced sexual violence at the hands of “soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards”.
Among the victims interviewed was freelance journalist Sami al-Sai, 46, who was detained by Israeli authorities in 2024. The description of his experience in prison is as horrific as that of countless other Palestinian men and women who have endured brutal acts of sexual violence. The journalist linked his abuse to pressure from the Israeli authorities to turn informer. Pride in his profession kept him from yielding to their demand. Many others in his place would have succumbed to the pressure.
A number of these stories are so harrowing that they cannot be repeated here. Thousands of Palestinian men, women and children are languishing in Israeli prisons in subhuman conditions, with many routinely subjected to sexual abuse.
