Western media has failed to accurately describe events at the heart of an Israeli military scandal, after the country’s top military lawyer was arrested for leaking footage of IDF soldiers allegedly gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner in a detention centre.

The attack was so brutal that the man was hospitalised with a ruptured bowel and intestines, severe anal and lung injuries and broken ribs. He needed multiple surgical operations for his injuries. The soldiers “inserted a sharp object into [his] anus and ripped his rectum apart”, according to Mondoweiss.

However, Western mainstream media outlets including Sky News, the BBC, Channel 4, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Times, The Telegraph and The Independent have failed to use the word ‘rape’ in their headlines when reporting on the story. The incident has been largely referred to as ‘abuse’.

  • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    I don’t mean to excuse Israel with whataboutism, but I feel like most militaries do this? Americans have done it, the Israeli have done it, others as well… I’m sure a few like the Candians and Swiss don’t, but I would assume them to be the exception more than the rule.

    It’s never excusable when anyone does it and it should absolutely be called out.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      24 hours ago

      I don’t mean to excuse Israel with whataboutism

      Immediately goes on to do exactly that

      • AxExRx@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        The point remains. This is an endemic thing in military prisons. Its a problem bigger than israel.

    • mcv@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      There have always been undisciplined soldiers with a tendency to rape, pillage, loot, etc. It has never been acceptable, and certainly in more recent times it has been declared utterly illegal. We’ve got the Geneva Convention against that sort of thing.

      Any country whose soldiers do this, shows itself to be depraved and lacking in military discipline. It’s a barbaric act, unbecoming of civilised countries.

    • snooggums@piefed.world
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      22 hours ago

      I don’t mean to excuse Israel with whataboutism,

      Yet you chose to do so anyway.

    • arrow74@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      Oh well I guess that makes it perfectly okay then.

      We need to condemn all mimitaries that do this. Everyone involved in its action or cover up should be held accountable and criminally charged.

      Just because it’s been done before doesn’t make it okay then nor now

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I’m really not getting what your goal was here with posting this. It still sounds like you’re either normalizing or doing whataboutism while saying you’re not.

      • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 hours ago

        I’m saying it’s bad when anyone does it. If you think rape is okay for countries X, Y, and Z, but you draw the line at Israel doing it, you don’t have a problem with rape, you have a problem with Israel. And that’s fine. They’re certainly doing bad shit. I’m saying I have a problem with rape and anyone doing it.

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 day ago

      This is true but most people get very upset when you point out that other Western militaries are doing it. Israel is far removed from them so they do not care as much when you criticize it.

      Also camps like Abu Graib are now closed whereas Israel is actively raping 10,000 Palestinians

    • lepinkainen@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      ”Most” by definition would mean over 50% of all the militaries in the world have done brutal anal rapes with sharp objects in this millennium.

      [X] Doubt

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Every military, in every country, in every empire, in all of human history has used rape as a weapon of imperialism.

      It’s a feature of our species. (A shitty one, let’s not be unclear, but a feature.)

  • madnificent@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Could we mark the description of these actions hidden, nsfw or at least add a warning? It is far too brutal.

      • insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        True but the point is that the media aren’t calling it rape, so the discussion may not need to divulge all the brutality. A spoiler tag could be used and you can choose to read about it or choose to believe it’s rape without reading about it and then both go on to discuss the media and their cowardice.

        • dellish@lemmy.world
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          32 minutes ago

          Yes, the point is the media aren’t calling it rape. THAT IS THE POINT. Congratulations.

        • Madison420@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          That’s a fuckin weird take tbh.

          It’s news, if it weren’t informative it wouldn’t be news.

          “14 dead in house fire” clicks link “omg they’re talking about people dying in a fire! How could I have known this would happen?!”

          • insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world
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            1 hour ago

            The post isn’t “here’s a story about rape”, the post is “Western media are downplaying what is rape”, it’s about the media.

            • Madison420@lemmy.world
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              1 hour ago

              And you somehow thought there wouldn’t be discussion about why it’s gang rape and not let’s say sexual assault?

      • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        They mean an NSFW tag (standard practice for social media) or CW (content warning) (standard practice for Lemmy).

        I wholeheartedly agree though, it shouldn’t be hidden. I’m also not opposed to warning people about triggering content on a social network where people who have such trauma tend to flock because their concerns are addressed better.

        • BeeegScaaawyCripple@lemmy.world
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          20 hours ago

          i’m not sure how “[CW: gang rape] Western Media Won’t Call IDF Gang Rape What It Is” would be more effective than just leaving off the content warning. The warning is right there in the title.