The videos shared by Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, depicting the humiliation and abuse of detainees, are appalling and horrific. The cynical and degrading treatment exposed toward detainees is entirely unjustifiable and unlawful — as the prison officers and other officials who cooperated in these acts should also have known. It should be made clear that, as a senior cabinet minister, Ben Gvir’s actions reflect the policies and culture fostered by the Israeli government as a whole, which include contempt for the rule of law, for human rights, and particularly for the rights of detainees and prisoners.
The Forum calls for the immediate opening of an investigation into violence and abuse in Israeli detention facilities, and for accountability at the highest levels of government. The normalization of violence, humiliation, and dehumanization by state officials must come to an end.