Several testimonies from Gaza point to cases of sexual and psychological abuse of Palestinian minors by Israeli female soldiers, which opened a serious debate about gender roles and responsibility in the context of war crimes.
According to several media sources and organizations documenting human rights violations, incidents include mistreatment, forced undressing and humiliation of boys during military occupation and detention. The identity of the victims has not been released for their protection.
– An Israeli soldier guards two Palestinian teenagers, who were abducted by the Israeli army in Gaza and stripped down to their underwear; forces two boys to dance in their underwear while filming them (video) and laughing – according to one report.
– Two female Israeli soldiers capture a Palestinian teenager in Gaza and strip him down to his underwear; they tie his hands behind his back, blindfold him, and then pose on both sides for a photo on social media. The woman on his right laughs at the camera, while making a gun sign with her fingers above the boy’s head, another report said.
Stereotypes about gender roles
These cases, if confirmed, point to a rarely illuminated aspect of sexual violence in armed conflict – one in which women are the perpetrators and men and boys are the victims. Experts warn that the topic is still under-discussed, in part because of deep-seated stereotypes about gender roles.
Feminist author Val Young has previously warned that women, when given institutional power, can abuse authority just as much as men, stressing that violence is not a biological but a socially conditioned behavior.
The phenomenon of women as perpetrators of sexual violence in war zones was previously recorded in Iraq, where American and British female soldiers were involved in the humiliation of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and Camp Breadbasket prisons. Similar patterns, analysts claim, are now being repeated in Gaza.
Concealed crimes
This problem exists not only in the military, but also in a wider cultural context. Western media and film industries often normalize, or even romanticize, brutality towards “others” – especially men from Muslim societies – which, critics say, contributes to creating an atmosphere in which violence against Palestinian men and boys is socially justified or glossed over.
A recent United Nations report stated that Palestinian men and boys were targeted for specific forms of sexual humiliation during Israeli military operations, and that there were indications that such acts were “ordered or tacitly approved.”
Professor Tommy Curry from the University of Edinburgh warns that sexual violence against men, particularly black and Arab boys, is often glossed over.
– Throughout history, male victims, especially those with a darker skin color, have been erased from the narrative of sexual violence – pointed out Curry.
These cases from Gaza raise important questions about gender responsibility, abuse of power and the need to recognize and prosecute all forms of sexual violence – regardless of the gender of the perpetrator.
(Vijesti.ba)
