Charges dropped against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at a military facility.Listen to this articleListen to this article | 4 minsinfoIsrael has dropped all charges against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at a military detention facility, Israeli media outlets have reported, closing a case that became one of the most divisive in the country’s recent history.The military announced the decision this week, more than a year after footage of the assault at Sde Teiman, a desert facility holding Palestinians detained during Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, was broadcast by Israeli television, triggering international outrage.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe incident, which occurred on July 5, 2024, resulted in the detainee being admitted to hospital. A doctor at the facility, Professor Yoel Donchin, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz he was so shocked by the man’s condition that he initially assumed it was the work of a rival armed group.The military’s own indictment described soldiers stabbing the detainee with a sharp object near his rectum, causing cracked ribs, a punctured lung and an internal tear.The US Department of State called the allegations “horrific” at the time and demanded a swift and full investigation. “There ought to be zero tolerance of any sexual abuse, rape, of any detainees, period,” then State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military’s top lawyer who had filed the indictment and authorised the footage to be leaked to Channel 12, resigned last year and was subsequently arrested on charges including fraud, breach of trust and obstruction of justice. Advertisement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, described the leak of the video, not the incident itself, as perhaps the worst “public relations attack” Israel had ever faced.Aida Touma-Suleiman, a member of the Israeli parliament representing the left-wing Hadash-Ta’al faction, previously told Al Jazeera, “They [the government] want to cover up the rape.”“That’s why they’re dealing with the prosecutors and not the crime itself,” Touma-Suleiman said, adding, “This is how the judic …
