Israel blocks UN investigation into sex crime accusations

Israel is blocking a UN investigation into alleged sexual violence during the Hamas-led October 7th attacks, the Middle East Eye via Haaretz reported on January 8th.

The Israeli publication stated that officials opposed the investigation because it would also examine allegations of sexual violence against Palestinians by Israelis.

The UN under secretary-general for sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, requested that Israeli detention centres be included as part of an inquiry into alleged sexual crimes on October 7th 2023.

Israel rejected the request which sought to allow UN access to Israeli prisons to investigate the treatment of Palestinians detained there.

Palestinian Authority officials had initially made this request to Patten.

Any confirmed violations could have resulted in Israel being added to a UN blacklist for sexual crimes, according to representatives of the Israeli Women’s Lobby familiar with Patten’s team, Haaretz reported.

Director of the international department of the Women’s Lobby, Mia Schocken told Haaretz: “The clear concern is that Israel will be the one to be added to the blacklist of entities and countries that engage in sexual violence in conflicts, while the terrorist organisation Hamas will actually remain off the list.”

An earlier UN report by Patten investigating allegations of sexual violence allegedly committed by Hamas and other Palestinian fighters was released on 4 March last year.

Western media coverage of the report faced criticism from Palestinian groups for misrepresenting its findings.

“The report does not, in fact, reach many of the conclusions for which it is being lauded in western media, and several of its findings undermine the Israeli narrative,” the Feminist Solidarity Network for Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group, stated in a review of the UN report.

The group noted that Israel has refused to cooperate with another UN team operating under the UN Human Rights Council, which is investigating the allegations. Doctors and health workers who treated victims of the October 7th attacks were reportedly instructed not to speak with the UN team.

The activists stated that Israel has presented Patten’s report as a “UN endorsement of its claim that Hamas committed systematic sexual violence on 7 October,” but pointed out that Patten refuted many claims made by the Israeli government.

Patten had also rejected an NBC report claiming a woman was found at Kibbutz Be’eri with “objects like knives inserted in the genitalia,” clarifying that the UN mission team reviewing photos from the scene “did not find anything like that.”

Patten remarked that accounts from first responders regarding the Hamas-led 7 October attack included “instances of unreliable, inaccurate forensic interpretation by untrained people.”

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, numerous Palestinians detained by Israeli forces have reported being sexually assaulted by troops at Sde Teiman, a facility located in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

Reports of torture, rape, and murder have emerged from the facility, which is one of several where Palestinians have reportedly faced mistreatment for decades.

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No arrests were made in connection to the abuse until July 29th, when military police raided the facility, clashed with soldiers, and detained them.

In late June of last year, nine Israeli soldiers were arrested on allegations of raping a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman. Five of those soldiers were released to house arrest on January 7th, while the army considers whether to file charges.

The incident sparked backlash in Israel, with a far-right mob, including an MP and minister, storming the detention centre and a military court to pressure authorities to release the accused soldiers.

A poll conducted by the Institute for National Security Studies revealed that 65 percent of Israeli Jews believed the five soldiers should be punished internally by the military rather than facing criminal prosecution.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir confirmed that conditions in Israeli prisons “have indeed worsened” since the war on Gaza began, adding, “I am proud of that.”

The Middle East Eye via Haaretz