© AP Photo / Ariel Schalit
On Sunday, Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls said it is “abhorrent” that reports of rape by Israeli forces continue to mount without consequences.
Israeli Defense Force Brigade General Amir Avivi said on an Israeli radio show that in private, a US State Department official accused Israel of “systematically sexually abusing Palestinian women,” which may have revealed an internal stance of the US State Department that contradicts its public comments.
“It was a meeting that shook me. We sat there, talked about the situation, and suddenly [the US State Department official] accused Israel of systematically sexually abusing Palestinian women,” Avivi said.
“This is absolutely disconnected from reality. But without hesitation, she said ‘The UN presented evidence to the Israeli government.,” he said, describing the conversation.
Avivi was critical of the State Department, adding that he wanted to bring awareness “about what is really happening in the US State Department.”
“When we meet with a State Department official holding the Israeli-Palestinian portfolio, every word she utters, as far as I am concerned, is an official US position,” Avivi argued.
However, in public at least, the State Department says it was unable to confirm reports of sexual abuse by the IDF. In February, a group of UN experts issued a statement, warning of “credible allegations” of “egregious human rights abuses” against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank, including arbitrary executions and “multiple forms of sexual assault,” including rape.
State Department spokesman Matt Miller said in a press conference following those accusations that he “cannot independently confirm the reports” and called on Israel to “thoroughly and transparently investigate credible allegations.”
When pressed by a journalist on what it would take for the State Department to confirm the accusations, as it did of reports of rape during the October 7 Hamas attack based on the testimony of Israeli medical experts, Miller said the US could only after “a full, independent, credible investigation.”
Israel said it “forcefully rejects” the accusation from the UN, calling them “despicable and unfounded.” It has not announced an investigation into the allegations.
In December, Josh Paul a former State Department official who resigned over arms transfers to Israel, said the Defense of Children International Palestine told him of credible accusations that a 13-year-old boy was raped by IDF soldiers. Paul said he raised the issue to Israel who then raided the charity’s offices, seized their computers and declared it a terrorist organization.
Avivi is also a co-founder of the Israeli Defense and Security Forum (ISDF), at their conference in January, he predicted “maybe [the war] will never end,” and called for Israel to take “full control of the Egyptian-Gaza border” and for the IDF to have “full freedom of operation in Gaza from now and pretty much forever.”
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240324/idf-general-says-us-accused-israel-of-systematic-sexual-abuse-in-private-meeting-1117532553.html
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