The Israeli military said it is dropping charges against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee in an encounter partially caught on camera.

[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu welcomed the decision, saying that “the state of Israel must pursue its enemies, not its heroic fighters.”

The now-dismissed indictment against the soldiers accused them of an assault that included dragging a Palestinian prisoner along the floor, stepping on him, tasering him, and sexually assaulting him by stabbing him in the rectum. The Palestinian was taken to an Israeli hospital with fractured ribs and a perforated rectum that required surgery before he was returned to the prison.

The allegations of abuse at the facility gained steam when, in August 2024, Israeli news broadcast a leaked video of the alleged assault.

  • MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zipEnglish
    5·
    17 hours ago

    The now-dismissed indictment against the soldiers accused them of an assault that included dragging a Palestinian prisoner along the floor, stepping on him, tasering him, and sexually assaulting him by stabbing him in the rectum. The Palestinian was taken to an Israeli hospital with fractured ribs and a perforated rectum that required surgery before he was returned to the prison.

    In its Thursday decision dismissing the case, the military’s top legal officers said the charges against the soldiers were being dropped because the video did not show abuse violent enough to merit a criminal conviction and had been improperly leaked to the media. The decision added that the Palestinian victim had since been released back to Gaza, creating an “absence of certainty” he would be able to testify in a trial.

    WTF