Why raping Palestinians is legit Israeli military practice
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funeralxempire
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12 Aug 2024, 2:29 pm
Why raping Palestinians is legitimate Israeli military practice
Quote:
The Israeli sexual torture scandal, whereby nine soldiers were arrested on 29 July for allegedly physically and sexually torturing Palestinian men, was depicted in western media as a deviation from Israel's usual torture methods.
The idea is that Israeli torturers of Palestinian prisoners do not usually subject them to rape.
Four of the arrested soldiers were later released following widespread riots.
The US State Department, presumably appalled by such torture, described a video reportedly showing the alleged rape as "horrific" and insisted that "[t]here ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee, period... If there are detainees who have been sexually assaulted or raped, the government of Israel, the IDF [Israeli army] need to fully investigate those actions and hold anyone responsible accountable to the full extent of the law".
The White House, also presumably a stranger to the practice of abusing political prisoners held in US dungeons, remained calm but found reports of Israeli sexual torture "deeply concerning".
The European Union followed suit and claimed to be "gravely concerned".
But this is hardly a new development in the cruelty of the Israeli colonial-settler regime. The Israeli army has been systematically using physical and sexual torture against Palestinians since at least 1967, as human rights groups revealed years ago.
Indeed, sadism has been characteristic of the Zionist colonists' treatment of Palestinians since the 1880s, as even Zionist leaders complained at the time.
This sadism and the sexual torture that often accompanies it are rooted not only in European colonial hubris but also in orientalist views that Arabs only "understand force" and are allegedly more susceptible to sexual torture than white Europeans.
Ordinary practice
The Israeli army's arrest of the errant soldiers who allegedly gang-raped the Palestinian prisoner has precipitated outrage among right-wing Israelis, who make up a majority of the electorate.
Dozens of protesters, along with members of the Israeli Knesset, attempted to storm two military facilities and a judicial building where the soldiers were being held with the intention of liberating them.
Several Israeli government ministers have also defended the rape of Palestinian prisoners as "legitimate".
On Israeli morning TV, presenters and analysts discussed how to best arrange the rape of Palestinian prisoners, criticising only the "disorganised" manner in which it was conducted.
While such discussions may seem ordinary in Israel, western observers have feigned shock.
This reaction comes even though the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem reported that Israel has been following a policy of systematic prisoner abuse and torture since last October, subjecting Palestinian detainees to acts of violence - including sexual abuse.
One of the alleged Israeli rapists was invited, masked, on to Israeli TV Channel 14 to defend the rapes. He later posted a video on social media unmasking himself, expressing pride in his unit and its treatment of Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Israeli TV coverage has been calling for the head of whoever leaked the video of the rape to human rights groups, labelling them a "traitor" to Israel.
Racialised torture
Israel is hardly alone in such practices.
Following the 2004 revelations of American systematic physical and sexual torture of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003, veteran American journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that the notion that "Arabs are particularly vulnerable to sexual humiliation became a talking point among pro-war Washington conservatives in the months before the March, 2003, invasion of Iraq".
According to Hersh, American neocons learned of such a "vulnerability" from Israeli orientalist Raphael Patai's notorious 1973 book The Arab Mind.
Hersh quoted a source who referred to the book as "the bible of the neocons on Arab behaviour". The source further asserted that in the discussions of the neocons, two themes emerged: "One, that Arabs only understand force and, two, that the biggest weakness of Arabs is shame and humiliation."
Such racialised torture is emblematic of imperial cultures, both in the present and throughout history. Here is one such report:
This report describes, in almost identical terms, what Iraqi prisoners experienced in 2003 at the hands of the Americans and what Palestinian prisoners have been experiencing since 1967 under Israeli custody.
Written in August 1938, it details how British and Zionist Jewish soldiers treated revolutionary Palestinians during the 1930s Palestinian anti-colonial revolt.
The author of the report, Subhi al-Khadra, was a Palestinian political prisoner detained in the Acre Prison. He learned about the torture of these prisoners, which had taken place in Jerusalem, after they were transferred to Acre. The prisoners recounted their experiences to him and showed him the physical signs of torture on their bodies.
With regard to the motives of the British torturers, Khadra concludes:
The report was publicised in the Arabic press and dispatched to British members of parliament.
A 'uniform occurrence'
The mixture of sex and violence in an American (or European or Israeli) imperial setting characterised by racism and absolute power is a uniform occurrence.
During the "first" Gulf War, from 1990 to 1991, American fighter and bomber pilots spent hours watching pornographic films to get themselves in the right mood for the massive bombing they were to carry out in Iraq.
In Vietnam, US soldiers' rape of Vietnamese women guerrillas was not only normalised during the US invasion and occupation of the country, but was even part of US army drill instructions.
The same orientalist and sexist paradigm that informs Israeli attitudes towards Palestinian prisoners reigned supreme in the eyes of the Americans in Vietnam.
Indeed, Israeli rape of Palestinian women was weaponised during the 1948 war and afterwards, driven by similar sadistic racism.
Israeli sexual torture and abuse of Palestinian men and women has also been rampant in the West Bank and Gaza over the last 10 months, as the United Nations and human rights groups have reported.
The pretence that the Israeli army is a "moral army", let alone the "most moral army in the world", as Israeli racism often claims, is no more than yet another public relations attempt to cover up Israel's genocidal crimes against the Palestinian people.
As killing and raping Palestinians and stealing their lands and country have been an ongoing Zionist strategy since 1948, there is very little that US State Department calls for Israel to "investigate" itself can do.
Israeli army findings regarding the recently exposed gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner will likely reassert Israel's right to defend itself while upholding the most noble moral and legal principles, the very same moral and legal principles that have allowed Israel since 1948 to uproot and oppress an entire people with impunity.
The idea is that Israeli torturers of Palestinian prisoners do not usually subject them to rape.
Four of the arrested soldiers were later released following widespread riots.
The US State Department, presumably appalled by such torture, described a video reportedly showing the alleged rape as "horrific" and insisted that "[t]here ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee, period... If there are detainees who have been sexually assaulted or raped, the government of Israel, the IDF [Israeli army] need to fully investigate those actions and hold anyone responsible accountable to the full extent of the law".
The White House, also presumably a stranger to the practice of abusing political prisoners held in US dungeons, remained calm but found reports of Israeli sexual torture "deeply concerning".
The European Union followed suit and claimed to be "gravely concerned".
But this is hardly a new development in the cruelty of the Israeli colonial-settler regime. The Israeli army has been systematically using physical and sexual torture against Palestinians since at least 1967, as human rights groups revealed years ago.
Indeed, sadism has been characteristic of the Zionist colonists' treatment of Palestinians since the 1880s, as even Zionist leaders complained at the time.
This sadism and the sexual torture that often accompanies it are rooted not only in European colonial hubris but also in orientalist views that Arabs only "understand force" and are allegedly more susceptible to sexual torture than white Europeans.
Ordinary practice
The Israeli army's arrest of the errant soldiers who allegedly gang-raped the Palestinian prisoner has precipitated outrage among right-wing Israelis, who make up a majority of the electorate.
Dozens of protesters, along with members of the Israeli Knesset, attempted to storm two military facilities and a judicial building where the soldiers were being held with the intention of liberating them.
Several Israeli government ministers have also defended the rape of Palestinian prisoners as "legitimate".
On Israeli morning TV, presenters and analysts discussed how to best arrange the rape of Palestinian prisoners, criticising only the "disorganised" manner in which it was conducted.
While such discussions may seem ordinary in Israel, western observers have feigned shock.
This reaction comes even though the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem reported that Israel has been following a policy of systematic prisoner abuse and torture since last October, subjecting Palestinian detainees to acts of violence - including sexual abuse.
One of the alleged Israeli rapists was invited, masked, on to Israeli TV Channel 14 to defend the rapes. He later posted a video on social media unmasking himself, expressing pride in his unit and its treatment of Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Israeli TV coverage has been calling for the head of whoever leaked the video of the rape to human rights groups, labelling them a "traitor" to Israel.
Racialised torture
Israel is hardly alone in such practices.
Following the 2004 revelations of American systematic physical and sexual torture of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003, veteran American journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that the notion that "Arabs are particularly vulnerable to sexual humiliation became a talking point among pro-war Washington conservatives in the months before the March, 2003, invasion of Iraq".
According to Hersh, American neocons learned of such a "vulnerability" from Israeli orientalist Raphael Patai's notorious 1973 book The Arab Mind.
Hersh quoted a source who referred to the book as "the bible of the neocons on Arab behaviour". The source further asserted that in the discussions of the neocons, two themes emerged: "One, that Arabs only understand force and, two, that the biggest weakness of Arabs is shame and humiliation."
Quote:
Hersh continues his revelations:
"The government consultant said that there may have been a serious goal, in the beginning, behind the sexual humiliation and the posed photographs. It was thought that some prisoners would do anything - including spying on their associates - to avoid dissemination of the shameful photos to family and friends. The government consultant said, 'I was told that the purpose of the photographs was to create an army of informants, people you could insert back in the population.' The idea was that they would be motivated by fear of exposure, and gather information about pending insurgency action, the consultant said. If so, it wasn't effective; the insurgency continued to grow."
"The government consultant said that there may have been a serious goal, in the beginning, behind the sexual humiliation and the posed photographs. It was thought that some prisoners would do anything - including spying on their associates - to avoid dissemination of the shameful photos to family and friends. The government consultant said, 'I was told that the purpose of the photographs was to create an army of informants, people you could insert back in the population.' The idea was that they would be motivated by fear of exposure, and gather information about pending insurgency action, the consultant said. If so, it wasn't effective; the insurgency continued to grow."
Such racialised torture is emblematic of imperial cultures, both in the present and throughout history. Here is one such report:
Quote:
"The types of torture employed are varied. They include beatings with fists and [stomping] with boots... as well as using canes for beating and flogging to death. They also included... the penetration of the rectums of the victims with canes, and then moving the cane left and right, and to the front and back. They also included pressing on the testicles with the hands and squeezing them until the victim loses consciousness from the pain and until they [the testicles] get so swollen that the victim would not be able to walk or move except by carrying his legs one at a time... They also included the starving of dogs and then provoking them and pushing them to devour his flesh and to eat off his thighs. It also included urinating on the faces of victims...[Another form of torture included the soldiers'] sodomising them, as it seems that this was done to a number of people."
This report describes, in almost identical terms, what Iraqi prisoners experienced in 2003 at the hands of the Americans and what Palestinian prisoners have been experiencing since 1967 under Israeli custody.
Written in August 1938, it details how British and Zionist Jewish soldiers treated revolutionary Palestinians during the 1930s Palestinian anti-colonial revolt.
The author of the report, Subhi al-Khadra, was a Palestinian political prisoner detained in the Acre Prison. He learned about the torture of these prisoners, which had taken place in Jerusalem, after they were transferred to Acre. The prisoners recounted their experiences to him and showed him the physical signs of torture on their bodies.
With regard to the motives of the British torturers, Khadra concludes:
Quote:
"This was not an investigation in which forceful methods are used. No. It was a vengeance and a release of the most savage and barbaric of instincts and of the concentrated spirit of hatred that these rednecks feel towards Muslims and Arabs. They mean to torture for the sake of torture and to satisfy their appetite for vengeance, not for the sake of an investigation nor to expose crimes."
The report was publicised in the Arabic press and dispatched to British members of parliament.
A 'uniform occurrence'
The mixture of sex and violence in an American (or European or Israeli) imperial setting characterised by racism and absolute power is a uniform occurrence.
During the "first" Gulf War, from 1990 to 1991, American fighter and bomber pilots spent hours watching pornographic films to get themselves in the right mood for the massive bombing they were to carry out in Iraq.
In Vietnam, US soldiers' rape of Vietnamese women guerrillas was not only normalised during the US invasion and occupation of the country, but was even part of US army drill instructions.
The same orientalist and sexist paradigm that informs Israeli attitudes towards Palestinian prisoners reigned supreme in the eyes of the Americans in Vietnam.
Indeed, Israeli rape of Palestinian women was weaponised during the 1948 war and afterwards, driven by similar sadistic racism.
Israeli sexual torture and abuse of Palestinian men and women has also been rampant in the West Bank and Gaza over the last 10 months, as the United Nations and human rights groups have reported.
The pretence that the Israeli army is a "moral army", let alone the "most moral army in the world", as Israeli racism often claims, is no more than yet another public relations attempt to cover up Israel's genocidal crimes against the Palestinian people.
As killing and raping Palestinians and stealing their lands and country have been an ongoing Zionist strategy since 1948, there is very little that US State Department calls for Israel to "investigate" itself can do.
Israeli army findings regarding the recently exposed gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner will likely reassert Israel's right to defend itself while upholding the most noble moral and legal principles, the very same moral and legal principles that have allowed Israel since 1948 to uproot and oppress an entire people with impunity.
Israel and those who sympathize with the murderous regime there like to complain about how accurate reporting on Israeli actions dehumanizes Israelis while ignoring that they choose to dehumanize themselves through their actions. If you riot out of sympathy with rapists you're choosing to dehumanize yourself, it's not the fault of the people who draw attention to your lack of humanity. If you're pro-rape it isn't public awareness of your position that dehumanizes you, it's the position you hold that dehumanizes you.
When you stand with rapists and genocidal monsters it dehumanizes you, it makes you personally someone who condones rape, it makes you someone who personally condones genocide. Don't whine about being called what you are or being dehumanized by being known for what you are. If you'd like to be known for better, stop supporting those policies and the entity that perpetuates them.
_________________
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas, this is part of our strategy” —Netanyahu
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now." —Former U.S. Airman (Air Force) Aaron Bushnell
13 Aug 2024, 7:19 pm
What? But Israel is Civilized (TM)! Israel is part of the West (TM)! They're the most pro-woman democracy in the Middle East!
Zionists are extremely concerned about the plight of women and queers in Palestine.....but only with regard to how the Palestinian government and public treats them. Israel gets a blank check to do what they want to who they want and respond to all criticism with "anti-Semitism!" or whataboutism.
cyberdad wrote:
Why aren't people protesting in the streets against China?....hmmmm
"Why aren't people trying to stop a 100 ft tall bully instead of this normal-sized bully which is being funded by their government?"
"Why aren't people trying to punch a hole in this brick wall here instead of that styrofoam wall there?"
Attainable goals first. Do the easy tasks first. Israel is also an enormous obstacle to peace for the whole region and the world at large--espevially relative to its size and influence. They're a sort of "load-bearing" apartheid state. Another pillar of racism to be knocked over like Israeli allies Rhodesia and white-ruled South Africa.
China is way too important economically for just about any government to actually put them under serious economic sanctions. Sanctions and diplomatic isolation certainly weren't enough to force Iran and Cuba to do what we want. And they're small fries compared to China. What exactly would you have these people demand their governments do about China? Those governments aren't going to go too far in cracking down on China. China is too economically important, and the donor class will ensure the politicians don't compromise their ability to penetrate the Chinese market.
In addition to the obvious whataboutism of this, something I noticed:
The types that ask why nobody protests China or North Korea or Iran or Russia or wherever they want you to focus on besides Israel--have you ever seen those types ever actually protest about those issues? I don't see them organizing mass protests or putting serious pressure on policymakers to change policy towards those places. Makes me wonder how much they actually care. Not enough to actually demand any of these sanctions through protest or otherwise.
The thought seems not to occur to them unless they are trying to shut up critics of Israel or one of those other countries whose atrocities they find more palatable.
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ASPartOfMe
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14 Aug 2024, 10:26 am
roronoa79 wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
Why aren't people protesting in the streets against China?....hmmmm
"Why aren't people trying to stop a 100 ft tall bully instead of this normal-sized bully which is being funded by their government?"
"Why aren't people trying to punch a hole in this brick wall here instead of that styrofoam wall there?"
Attainable goals first. Do the easy tasks first. Israel is also an enormous obstacle to peace for the whole region and the world at large--espevially relative to its size and influence. They're a sort of "load-bearing" apartheid state. Another pillar of racism to be knocked over like Israeli allies Rhodesia and white-ruled South Africa.
China is way too important economically for just about any government to actually put them under serious economic sanctions. Sanctions and diplomatic isolation certainly weren't enough to force Iran and Cuba to do what we want. And they're small fries compared to China. What exactly would you have these people demand their governments do about China? Those governments aren't going to go too far in cracking down on China. China is too economically important, and the donor class will ensure the politicians don't compromise their ability to penetrate the Chinese market.
Other reasons:
Israel is the center of three major religions so what goes on there is of disproportionate interest.
There is racism involved. When Chinese or Africans do ethnic cleansing and genocide it creates less interest then when people who look more like the majority of Westerners do it or people who look like “them” are expected to do it.
By design there is little to no graphic images on peoples phones coming out of China or Nigeria.
Unlike Israel you don’t hear about Chinese government officials or Boko Haram officials openly discussing their genocides probably because they do not do it. If they are doing it, it is not reported because of the racism discussed above.
Antisemitism - Just because it is hyped up, and ginned up for political purposes does not mean it is not a factor. It just makes it harder to distinguish how much of a factor, and harder to distinguish between anti zionism used to cover for antisemitism from a legitimate belief that a Jewish state is inherently wrong.
Bottom Line:
It is not that there will be no interest in China and Africa. There will be still be occasional news stories, an online petition, or protest or two. But they will be for the most part be “Isn’t that terrible” moments.
OTOH everything Israel does will be gone over with a fine tooth comb, every action no matter how innocuous or even good will be assumed to have a nefarious motive. If there is a dispute about facts the worst will be assumed.
No it is not always fair, but life is not fair. This is what Israel and to a somewhat lesser extent Jews in general are going to have to deal with for the forceable future.
When this war ends, when other events grab attention the pressure might ease. But there will be no going back to the honeymoon period. You only get one honeymoon. When the next flareup occurs the “starting point” will be a lot higher due to the precedent set during the last 10 months.
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funeralxempire
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14 Aug 2024, 9:54 pm
At least one of the factors is that other genocidal regimes tend to face sanctions, boycotts or at least public awareness campaigns.
The west bombs Boko Harem and considers them a terrorist organization.
The west attempts to realign trade with China and at least in theory attempts to not allow business to be done with entities in China that benefit from China's campaigns against the Uyghurs.
The west protects Israel from deserved blowback at every turn. Philosemitism is a much bigger factor in the west than antisemitism even though both forces are in play (often even from the same bloc given how jealousy often seems to be a factor in antisemitism).
It seems fair that the bad guys we support get more attention than the bad guys most of us universally agree are bad guys. Only the bad guys we actively support actually reflect on us and the values we claim to uphold. If we ever become as dedicated supporters of China as we are of Israel it would be fair to give China's wrong-doings at least as much attention as Israel's.
If I support the Hell's Angels it makes sense to call out all the bad s**t the Hell's Angels do as well as to dismiss my attempts at deflection by bringing up the Crips or the Latin Kings as deflection. It doesn't matter if they're just as bad because I'm not an open and active supporter of them and we all agree they're also a problem. The one I'm trying to pretend isn't as big of problem is the one that I need to be hit over the head with until I concede that supporting them is indefensible. But wut about the Bloods? contributes nothing to a conversation about why the Hell's Angels are a dangerous organization, at most it serves to distract from valid criticisms.
In particular when discussing incidents of sexual assault by Hamas or their allies or people who chose to be hangers-on on that day we seem all too eager to ignore that Israel has been using rape as a weapon of war against the Palestinian people for decades. People on here and elsewhere seem to think that rape doesn't matter until it's 'their side' on the receiving end of it. You can't abuse and dehumanize a group of people for decades and then make a shocked pikachu face when they return the favour and treat you the way you've been treating them for decades.
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“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas, this is part of our strategy” —Netanyahu
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now." —Former U.S. Airman (Air Force) Aaron Bushnell
ASPartOfMe
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15 Aug 2024, 8:44 am
cyberdad wrote:
^^ Do the opposition parties in Israel at least oppose the maltreatment of prisoners?
They have not made any statements directly about that I have read. There have been a few statements criticizing the storming of the place where IDF rape suspects are being held but they were about “Israel’s January 6th” not what the soldiers are accused of.
This combined with the complete dismissal of female lookouts who prior to 10/7 warned and warned that Hamas was planning something big indicates major sexism and misogynistic elements in Israeli society.
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16 Aug 2024, 5:54 am
Quote:
Why raping Palestinians is legitimate Israeli military practice
[...]
The European Union followed suit and claimed to be "gravely concerned".
But this is hardly a new development in the cruelty of the Israeli colonial-settler regime. The Israeli army has been systematically using physical and sexual torture against Palestinians since at least 1967, as human rights groups revealed years ago.
[...]
While such discussions may seem ordinary in Israel, western observers have feigned shock.
[...]
The European Union followed suit and claimed to be "gravely concerned".
But this is hardly a new development in the cruelty of the Israeli colonial-settler regime. The Israeli army has been systematically using physical and sexual torture against Palestinians since at least 1967, as human rights groups revealed years ago.
[...]
While such discussions may seem ordinary in Israel, western observers have feigned shock.
Probably a lot of us in the West are genuinely shocked because we haven't been told enough about the atrocities committed by our own governments and allies.
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funeralxempire
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16 Aug 2024, 6:48 pm
Mona Pereth wrote:
Quote:
Why raping Palestinians is legitimate Israeli military practice
[...]
The European Union followed suit and claimed to be "gravely concerned".
But this is hardly a new development in the cruelty of the Israeli colonial-settler regime. The Israeli army has been systematically using physical and sexual torture against Palestinians since at least 1967, as human rights groups revealed years ago.
[...]
While such discussions may seem ordinary in Israel, western observers have feigned shock.
[...]
The European Union followed suit and claimed to be "gravely concerned".
But this is hardly a new development in the cruelty of the Israeli colonial-settler regime. The Israeli army has been systematically using physical and sexual torture against Palestinians since at least 1967, as human rights groups revealed years ago.
[...]
While such discussions may seem ordinary in Israel, western observers have feigned shock.
Probably a lot of us in the West are genuinely shocked because we haven't been told enough about the atrocities committed by our own governments and allies.
Here's a case from my country's history. I recall it being a BFD at the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia_affair
_________________
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas, this is part of our strategy” —Netanyahu
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now." —Former U.S. Airman (Air Force) Aaron Bushnell
16 Aug 2024, 7:04 pm
Sexually assaulting fellow personnel in the US military is a huge problem, so it’s no surprise to me when they commit sexual violence against people with whom they are at war. I feel like this deserves more attention than it gets, but it seems to make people uncomfortable to talk about it. They’d prefer to think that it’s solely a problem in…other cultures.
Quote:
The number of sexual assaults in the U.S. military is likely two to four times higher than government estimates, according to a new study out of Brown University.
The study, completed by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute, compared Defense Department data on sexual assaults with data that was not from the DOD to estimate sexual assault figures in the military since 2001.
“During and beyond the 20 years of the post-9/11 wars, independent data suggest that actual sexual assault prevalence is two to four times higher than DoD estimations — 75,569 cases in 2021 and 73,695 cases in 2023,” the authors wrote in the report, which was released Wednesday.
Defense Department figures estimate that there were approximately 35,900 cases in 2021 and around 29,000 military personnel assaulted in 2023, the study said.
The Brown report said that independent studies show higher estimates of the number of active-duty service members experiencing sexual assault, and it compared those studies with Defense Department numbers.
“This report highlights a middle range — two to four times higher than DoD estimates — as likely providing the most accurate numbers,” it said.
The study, completed by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute, compared Defense Department data on sexual assaults with data that was not from the DOD to estimate sexual assault figures in the military since 2001.
“During and beyond the 20 years of the post-9/11 wars, independent data suggest that actual sexual assault prevalence is two to four times higher than DoD estimations — 75,569 cases in 2021 and 73,695 cases in 2023,” the authors wrote in the report, which was released Wednesday.
Defense Department figures estimate that there were approximately 35,900 cases in 2021 and around 29,000 military personnel assaulted in 2023, the study said.
The Brown report said that independent studies show higher estimates of the number of active-duty service members experiencing sexual assault, and it compared those studies with Defense Department numbers.
“This report highlights a middle range — two to four times higher than DoD estimates — as likely providing the most accurate numbers,” it said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna166490
Sorry if this is off-topic. I just find it especially abhorrent when people glorify the military in unjust wars when they are committing many atrocities as the IDF is doing to an extreme extent.
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