Rape threats by illegal settlers against Palestinians become common after Sde Teiman incident

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - After a sexual assault by Israeli soldiers on a Palestinian detainee last month, rape threats against Palestinians by illegal settlers have become common.

Illegal Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinians and encroach on their properties with no accountability but protection by the Israeli army across the occupied West Bank.

On Monday, the Israeli rights group B'Tselem published a report documenting an incident that took place on Aug. 4 in the Khirbet Wadi a-Rakhim in South Hebron Hills, the southern West Bank, when masked settlers brought cows "to graze in a barely field belonging to the (Palestinian) Harini family near community homes."

The video released by B'Tselem showed the masked settlers threatening the family and claiming that their house and land belong to them.

A settler verbally harassed the Palestinian land owner and directed implicit rape threats against him.

"You look sweet. You are my bitch. You look so fresh," the settler harassed the Palestinian.

"I will be happy to sit with you in jail someday. I would be happy. You know Sde Teiman," the settler, who was identified by B'Tselem as Shem Tov Luski, added referring to the Sde Teiman prison sexual assault incident last month by a group of Israeli soldiers against a Palestinian detainee.

"Rape for the sake of God, as they say. You understand what I mean," the settler also said.

Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have spiked since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian sources. Nearly 20 Palestinians have been killed and more than 785 others injured in those attacks.

The methods employed by illegal settlers varied from firing live ammunition to beatings, stoning vehicles, and attacking homes, families, and farmers.

The overall death toll of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7 by the Israeli army and settlers reached 652, in addition to over 5,400 others injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and called for the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar​​​​​​​