On Friday, UN Secretary general Antonio Guterres released his latest annual report for the Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence. Among the parties named and shamed was Israel’s military. Israel’s response was to cut off all contact with Mr Guterres. The US, Israel’s closest ally on the Security Council, called Israel’s inclusion “ridiculous”.
Neither reaction addressed the evidence that has prompted it: dozens of reported instances of sexual violence by Israeli forces against Palestinian detainees since the start of the Gaza war, with victims including children.
Genuine contrition from Israel’s military leaders has always been unlikely, but the absence of any apparent effort at self-accountability remains striking.
In March, Israel’s military advocate general dropped the charges against five soldiers accused of the serious sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman facility – a case in which the original indictment described shocking injuries. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel warned the decision gave soldiers licence to commit more such acts.
There is a pattern of wartime criminality that extends well beyond sexual violence in detention centres. In Lebanon, an investigation by The National has documented a systematic Israeli campaign against paramedics and first responders. The evidence includes “double-tap” and even “quadruple-tap” strikes – in which rescue workers arriving to treat casualties from an initial bombardment are themselves targeted by follow-up strikes. More than 120 medical personnel have been killed. Paramedics have released footage of their ambulance interiors to refute Israeli claims that they were transporting weapons. Legal experts pointed to a deliberate pattern that would amount to war crimes under the Geneva Conventions.
For decades, western governments have responded to such allegations with a familiar refrain: Israel should investigate. When a journalist recently pressed Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand on why Ottawa had asked Israel to lead the investigation into the killing of Mohamad Hassan Haidar, a Canadian citizen, in a drone strike in Lebanon, the question cut to the heart of the matter. Ms Anand’s reply was evasive and failed to address serious concerns about the investigation. Few will expect Israel’s investigation into Mr Haidar’s death to be any more forthcoming.
The UN sexual violence report should mark a turning point. The evidence of impunity ought not to be a matter of dispute. It is documented, verified and growing. Israel’s western partners must now recognise that deferring accountability indefinitely is not a neutral act. It is a choice – one that emboldens further abuses and erodes the credibility of every institution, from the UN to international courts, that exists to prevent them. The time for asking Israel to investigate itself has long passed. What is needed now is the political will to pursue real accountability.
