In recent days, photos and videos of Palestinian men and boys being stripped naked, lined up and taken into trucks by the Israeli army have circulated on social media.
Israel said they were suspected Hamas fighters it had arrested in northern Gaza. He even posted photos and video of a Palestinian man in his underwear walking past a row of undressed men and boys holding their ID cards and leaving a gun on the side of the road as “proof” that he These are indeed “activists”. .
But a closer look at this video reveals that it is staged. It makes no sense that Israeli soldiers, after discovering an armed fighter, would wait to strip and line everyone up, prepare to film a video, and then order that person to surrender his weapon through a loudspeaker. speaker, calling him “habibi” (my dear in Arabic).
Media reports later revealed that the Israeli army forcibly took the Palestinian men and boys after separating them from their families to United Nations-run schools that serve as shelters for displaced people in northern Gaza. Some of the men have been identified as United Nations employees, aid workers and at least one journalist. The man who was supposed to hold the weapon was said to be a trader.
Although the weapon video may be yet another desperate attempt by the Israeli military to hide its crimes from Western audiences, the release of images and footage showing the humiliation of Palestinian men and boys serves another purpose. .
Its goal is to demoralize the Palestinians while boosting the morale of the Israeli public. This is a clear reflection of the ideology of occupation, where Palestinians are seen as a people to be subjugated and dominated, even mercilessly killed.
Abusing Palestinians to “boost Israeli morale”
The release of these images and footage comes amid growing reports that the Israeli military is systematically separating Palestinian boys and men from their families in areas it controls in Gaza and dragging them to locations unknown.
Those who were released described torture and beatings at the hands of Israeli soldiers. The fate of many of them remains unknown, but given the deaths of at least six Palestinian prisoners and reports of widespread torture and other ill-treatment, there is a good chance that they too are victims of abuse.
Videos and images circulating on social media helped journalists and activists identify some of the detainees, refuting Israeli claims that they were Hamas fighters.
Hani Almadhoun, an employee of a US-based charity that raises funds for UNRWA, said he saw his brother Mahmoud, a trader, among the detainees, as well as his nephew Abood, 27. He told the Guardian that his father and nephew Omar, 13, were also detained.
Diaa al-Kahlout, correspondent for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed (The New Arab), also taken with his brothers, was recognized by his colleagues in one of the videos. The media outlet reported that Israeli soldiers detained them in their homes and expelled their wives and children before burning the houses.
Publishing these humiliating images constitutes a violation of the Geneva Convention, which prohibits “cruel treatment and torture” as well as “outrages upon personal dignity, including humiliating and degrading treatment.”
The images and videos sparked global outrage and comparisons between Israeli actions and the US “rendition” program and torture at black sites, Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and the Guantanamo detention center, as well as ‘with the genocidal practices of Serbian militias in the war in Bosnia. .
Even Israeli insiders balked at this behavior. Retired Israeli Brigadier General Shlomo Brom told NPR that the images should not have been published because they were humiliating.
So if these images and footage reveal another crime committed by the Israeli army in Gaza, why did they release them?
According to Brom, this was aimed at boosting morale in Israel and waging “psychological warfare against Hamas.”
Accept viral humiliation
This systematic humiliation is not new in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Palestinian academic Ramzy Baroud has argued, “humiliation of Palestinians is real Israeli policy.” Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass called the humiliation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails a “routine tactic.”
While the daily humiliation of Palestinians may have gone unnoticed by the rest of the world, the degrading treatment meted out to arrested Palestinian men and boys was observed around the world. Digital technology has allowed these acts of humiliation to go viral.
Other videos that have gone viral since October 7 also show Israeli soldiers defecating in the Palestinian homes they invaded, smashing toys in a Palestinian store, and laughing and mistreating Palestinian detainees.
Publicizing the abuses committed against Palestinian men and boys amplifies their humiliation. The act of arrest is distinguished from the publication of images showing degrading treatment. By broadcasting these images, the humiliation is not limited to the present moment or to the individuals directly involved. Instead, it becomes a public exhibition, potentially seen by millions of people.
American researcher Susan Sontag’s reflection on the role of photography in the objectification of human suffering is particularly relevant here. She notes: “Photographs objectify: they transform an event or a person into something that can be possessed. »
In the context of these events, photographs serve to objectify the victims, reducing them to simple images that can be shared and viewed detached from their humanity. This objectification strips victims of their individuality and dignity, reducing them to symbols of humiliation.
It is also an attempt to further dehumanize “other” Palestinians in front of the Israeli public and the rest of the world. This is part and parcel of Israel’s global campaign to present the Palestinian people as “subhuman” and to justify their massacres.
The publication of these photos and videos does not only constitute the documentation of an act of humiliation; it is an act of humiliation in itself. This amplifies the impact of the initial abuse, transforming a moment of suffering into a public spectacle of degradation, thereby compounding the psychological and emotional wounds inflicted on victims and their communities.
Ultimately, it is not about humiliating Hamas, but about humiliating all Palestinians and dehumanizing them in front of the widest possible audience.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.