Netanyahu's advisor justifies stripping Palestinian men: 'It's sunny'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
10 Dec 2023 12:29
2 Shares

Mark Regev, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's advisor, justifies the humiliation of Palestinian civilians who were abducted and forced to strip off their clothes by referring to the warmer weather in the region.

Mark Regev delivers a speech at the annual Holocaust Memorial Commemoration event on January 23, 2019. (AP)

Mark Regev, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's senior advisor, played down the humiliation of Palestinian men in an interview with Britain's Sky News on Saturday, suggesting that the act of forcing Palestinians to strip their clothes as they were rounded up by Israeli soldiers was not a major issue because of the warmer weather in West Asia.

Regev stated that in the Middle East, particularly during sunny days, being asked to take off one's shirt might not be "the end of the world", "Remember, it’s the Middle East and it’s warmer here, especially during the day when it’s sunny, to be asked to take off your shirt, it might not be pleasant but it’s not the end of the world," Regev said.

An Israeli senior advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister, Mark Regev, justifies arresting #Palestinians in #Gaza naked by saying that it is 'sunny' in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/m4din2VY2S
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 10, 2023

A video clip was taken by Israeli soldiers showing stripped and blindfolded Palestinian men, abducted by the IOF in northern Gaza. At least 100 Palestinian men were involved in this violation, which has been strongly condemned by Palestinian officials and human rights groups as degrading and inhumane.

'Bury them alive'

Regev's comments followed a disturbing post by Israeli politician Aryeh Yitzhak King, the deputy mayor of occupied al-Quds, who called for the Israeli military to "bury alive" the hundreds of captured Palestinian civilians in Gaza. King emphasized that the occupation army was eliminating what he referred to as "Muslim Nazis" in the Strip in a now-deleted post on X.

Contrary to Israeli claims of these men being Hamas fighters, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a news website, recognized one of the men detained that day on December 7 as their correspondent, Diaa Kahlout. As such, the outlet urged the international community to denounce the arrest of journalists while the Committee to Protect Journalists called for his release, Reuters reported.

Similarly, Palestinian American Hani Almadhoun said he recognized his 12-year-old relative among those detained and denied his relative had any links to Hamas.

'Israel' runs its mouth into its undoing

Last month, Israeli heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu suggested that deploying a nuclear weapon on Gaza was among the potential actions in the ongoing conflict with the besieged enclave. The far-right minister further argued against providing any humanitarian aid to Gaza, labeling the innocent civilian population in the region as "Nazis."

Eliyahu also underlined that he was staunchly opposed to any humanitarian aid making its way to Gaza, a statement which he backed by saying, "We wouldn't hand the Nazis humanitarian aid."

"There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza."