'Israel' filled with rape apologists, they are getting louder: Haaretz
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Israeli media denounces the ongoing and rising issue of rape culture and apologists in "Israel," shedding light on cases in various industries of the occupation.
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Far-right Israeli settlers protesting at Sde Teiman military base on July 29, 2024 (AFP)
Rape culture and apologists are plaguing "Israel," and their voices are only being amplified, according to Israeli media.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a report on Wednesday discussing the occupation's prevalent rape culture that exists both in the entertainment industry and the military.
Known as the "king of Mizrahi music," a hologram of deceased Israeli singer Zohar Argov will be displayed at the upcoming Revivo show, Channel 12 announced. An identified voice groaned off-camera, potentially due to Argov being a convicted rapist, Haaretz said.
Argov spent a year in prison in 1978 after he was found guilty of raping a woman who refused to go home with him. A similar case occurred nine years later, while he was discharged from serving a prison sentence after stealing a pistol from a police station, when he attempted to rape his friend's girlfriend and singer Yishai Levi.
"Okay, there was the rape and the convictions but nevertheless…" the Channel 12 correspondent stated, continuing to promote the singer while not being able to finish her sentence.
Eyal Golan, another Israeli singer has also faced repeated rape allegations of courting, manipulating, and sleeping with underaged girls for years, Haaretz reported. Despite these cases and women protesting at his concerts, Golan continues to sell out large venues in "Israel," and was honored with an award by by the Knesset Caucus for the Promotion of Israeli Music in 2018.
Sde Teiman prison scandal, the rape of Palestinian detainees
"Israel's" lack of denouncement of rape cases extends to the occupation's prison system, especially against detained Palestinians facing mistreatment at the hands of IOF personnel.
Haaretz described the recent Sde Teiman scandal as an example of rape denial and apology, where nine IOF soldiers were accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner.
These allegations were proved to be true after the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) affirmed that the leaked video exposed the soldiers sexually abusing the prisoner from Gaza, proving that "Israel" possesses a vast documented archive of all of its crimes in the notorious Sde Teiman concentration camp.
The news circulated on social media, prompting many users to deem the soldiers as "national heroes" and "completely innocent of any wrongdoing" regardless of the evidence.
Israeli protesters and Knesset members stormed the facility after the suspects were detained.
Sexual violence, abuse rampant in Israeli evacuee hotels
On February 13, a welfare expert informed a Knesset panel that an Israeli girl residing in a hotel designated for evacuees from settlements was subjected to sexual assault by an Israeli man who also lived in the same hotel.
Israeli media reported that the revelation occurred during a special session addressing high rates of instances of sexual and physical abuse involving women and minors evacuated to hotels following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
“An evacuee resident exposed himself and urinated in front of children at the entrance of a hotel,” Maya Oberbaum of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in "Israel" told the committee as quoted by The Times of Israel.
An evacuated settler also reported that she was sexually assaulted by a man who was also evacuated to the same hotel with her.
Oberbaum continued, providing additional instances of sexual and physical violence experienced by women and children within the hotels.
Furthermore, she noted that there have been accounts of sexual abuse within educational facilities set up for evacuated settlers, adding that a security guard has reportedly assaulted a young girl.
An Israeli police representative informed the panel on February 13 that 116 cases involving evacuees residing in hotels have been opened, with 40 of them being related to domestic violence.
Expressing concern that hotels are turning into a "pressure cooker", Kahan informed the committee that women residing in the hotels frequently experience harassment from groups of men, as per the report.
Mainly, hotels designated for Israelis evacuated in the past months amid the Israeli aggression on Gaza are grappling with a surge in crime, violence, and sexual assaults. The alarming situation underscores a culture of rape and violence among Israeli settlers.
