The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has published a major new report documenting how the Israeli prison system has become “a network of torture camps,” where physical, psychological and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners is normalized and routine. The report, titled “Welcome to Hell,” collects the testimony of 55 Palestinians who were detained by Israeli authorities since October 7 and later released, almost all without charges. This comes as a group of U.N. experts condemned the widespread torture of Palestinians and as Israel’s Channel 12 News aired shocking footage of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing a prisoner at the Sde Teiman army base, where thousands of detainees from Gaza are held. Sarit Michaeli, the international advocacy lead for B’Tselem, says the abuse in Israeli prisons is “systemic, ongoing and state-sanctioned,” reflecting the cruelty and thirst for revenge among a growing number of Israelis. “They would like to have a completely open field in terms of what they can do to Palestinians,” says Michaeli.

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has published a major new report documenting how the Israeli prison system has become “a network of torture camps,” where physical, psychological and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners is normalized and routine.

The report, titled “Welcome to Hell,” collects the testimony of 55 Palestinians who were detained by Israeli authorities since October 7 and later released, almost all without charges. This comes as a group of U.N. experts condemned the widespread torture of Palestinians and as Israel’s Channel 12 News aired shocking footage of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing a prisoner at the Sde Teiman army base, where thousands of detainees from Gaza are held.

Sarit Michaeli, the international advocacy lead for B’Tselem, says the abuse in Israeli prisons is “systemic, ongoing and state-sanctioned,” reflecting the cruelty and thirst for revenge among a growing number of Israelis. “They would like to have a completely open field in terms of what they can do to Palestinians,” says Michaeli.

You can find the full report of testimonies here

  • @[email protected]English
    0•1 month ago

    … trivialising the shit out of

    From 1937–1945, the Japanese military regime may have killed nearly 6 million people, including around half a million Koreans. This estimate includes Koreans who were conscripted into the Japanese army, where over 22,000 were killed.

    I’m with the demons and henchman.

    • @[email protected]English
      3•1 month ago

      That’s a lot of things, bad things, but it’s not Apartheid. Words have meaning. It’s also not current.

      • @[email protected]English
        0•1 month ago

        It’s also not current.

        Here the conclusion of your own source.

        Regardless, discrimination still affects their daily lives both visibly and invisibly.

        Definition of apartheid:

        system of legalized racial segregation that deprives one racial group of political and civil rights.

        I’ve provided sources that prove it. Political rights deprived as well as civil. Laws enabling it.

        • @[email protected]English
          2•1 month ago

          Political rights deprived as well as civil.

          They can, and do, become citizens. The procedure is the same as for everyone else. Are you telling me that black people in South Africa were able to do that.

          • @[email protected]English
            0•1 month ago

            Naturalization remains the primary means of acquiring full citizenship rights, but the process is complex and discourages many. Nowadays, most Zainichi Koreans are descendants of the forced labourers in the 1920s, so they were born and raised in Japan and speak only Japanese, but they are not eligible for citizenship unless one of their parents is Japanese. Furthermore, as it is against the law in Japan to have two nationalities,

            Go on how they do and can become citizens. I don’t know how many braincells I’ve lost talking to you. It’s easier for a Palestinian to get citizenship in Israel than it is for a zainichi Korean. They can’t even be Korean anymore to get citizenship. Dude what the fuck are you talking about here.

            • @[email protected]English
              2•1 month ago

              It’s easier for a Palestinian to get citizenship in Israel

              Hell no. Should Zainichi have an easier path to citizenship? I do think so, here in Germany we have an accelerated procedure for people who were born and went to school here, no matter the parentage. Is it any more involved to get Japanese citizenship as a Zainichi than as a German? Nope.

              Not allowing dual citizenship isn’t anything out of the ordinary either, btw.

              • @[email protected]English
                0•1 month ago

                People born in Germany are given citizenship. Zainichi Koreans are not in Japan. There is no accelerated procedure for zainichi Koreans who went to school. In fact japanese law even makes it harder for Korean schoolchildren.

                One of the continuing contentious issues for Koreans in Japan is education. The Japanese government in 2003 made graduates from most international schools and foreign schools – as well as Japanese schools – eligible for the university entrance examination. This has not been extended to most Korean schools (with the exception of a small number of Mindan-run schools), meaning that Korean students from these schools remain seriously disadvantaged. There also exists other forms of continuing discrimination against Korean schools, with donations to foreign schools being tax-exempt, but not those to Korean schools. Since most Korean schools are thus still not recognized as regular schools, children attending these schools will also risk discrimination in employment. The government of Japan also excludes Korean schools from the high school tuition-waiver programme, which was introduced by the government in April 2010, although the programme covered foreign schools authorized as miscellaneous schools. Many local governments have cancelled financial support for Korean schools as well.

                • @[email protected]English
                  2•1 month ago

                  People born in Germany are given citizenship.

                  Not in general, no.

                  If your argument was “Japan should adopt German-style laws and give citizenship to children of permanent residents” then I’d say yes, that’s a good idea. Your argument, however, is “Japan has Apartheid, Zainichi can’t use the same beaches as Japanese, are forced to live in segregated areas, have a different set of laws applied to them”. Because that is what Apartheid means. You’re trivialising the concept with your accusation.

                  • @[email protected]English
                    0•1 month ago

                    My argument is nobody cares about apartheid or even potential apartheid countries Japan is not the only one. They act like there is no problem it’s all normal. You don’t see a single person here going hey yeah Japan should chill out everyone is just going “no it’s not”.

                    What are you talking about “in general, no.”

                    It is how it works since the year 2000. If you are born there yes, you can get citizenship, given your parent live there for 8 years.

                    There are generations of zainichi who have not got citizenship.

                    I’ve shown they have different sets of laws that apply to them. They are prohibited from working various jobs.

                  • @KeeponstalinOPEnglish
                    0•1 month ago

                    Yeah pretty much, if they genuinely cared about human rights violations they would look into the Apartheid reports by Amnesty, B’TSelem, or HRW with the same earnest as Japan’s human rights violations during WWII and their current discriminatory policies.