Iftikhar Ali WASHINGTON, May 29 (APP):A prominent Muslim advocacy organization on Friday welcomed reports that the United Nations has added Israel to its list of parties committing sexual violence in conflict zones, citing allegations involving Israeli forces and prison authorities against Palestinians. The United Nations’ annual report on conflict-related sexual violence documented allegations of rape, sexual assault, humiliation, and abuse of Palestinian detainees and civilians during Israel’s deadly military operations …
CAIR hails UN adding Israel to world body’s sexual violence blacklist; Tel Aviv cuts ties with Guterres
Iftikhar Ali
WASHINGTON, May 29 (APP):A prominent Muslim advocacy organization on Friday welcomed reports that the United Nations has added Israel to its list of parties committing sexual violence in conflict zones, citing allegations involving Israeli forces and prison authorities against Palestinians.
The United Nations’ annual report on conflict-related sexual violence documented allegations of rape, sexual assault, humiliation, and abuse of Palestinian detainees and civilians during Israel’s deadly military operations in Gaza and other illegally- occupied Palestinian territories.
“We welcome any credible international effort to investigate and document abuses against Palestinian civilians and detainees, and we urge the Trump administration and Congress to stop enabling the rape and torture of people, including Palestinian-Americans, abducted by the Israeli apartheid government,“ the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement.
Last August, the report warned Israel could be added to the list of parties suspected of, or responsible for, sexual violence in situations of armed conflict.
The UN also said its inspectors had been denied access to the Israeli detention facilities.
Israel responded to the UN blacklist by “breaking all contact” with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Israel’s foreign ministry called the country’s inclusion on the UN sexual violence list “absurd.”
A spokesperson for Guterres said the office was aware of Israeli remarks.
“For our part, the secretary-general’s door remains open,” the spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said.
In its statement, CAIR said: “The United Nations’ reported decision to add the Israeli prison system to its blacklist for conflict-related sexual violence is a long-overdue acknowledgment of the suffering Israeli authorities inflict on Palestinians, human rights activists, medical professionals, and others with funding from American taxpayers.
“For far too long,” CAIR added, “Palestinian victims have been denied justice while documented allegations of torture, humiliation, sexual abuse, and other inhumane treatment have been dismissed or ignored by our nation, western media outlets and international bodies. International law must apply equally to all people, regardless of nationality or political alliances.
CAIR urged the Trump administration to take immediate action after a New York Times report detailed horrifying allegations of widespread sexual abuse, rape, torture, and humiliation of Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities.
It also recently called on Congress and the Trump administration to act following allegations that activists on a humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza kidnapped in international waters by Israel were subjected to sexual assault, violence and rape while in detention.
