It was telling, and not unexpected, to see the front-page, above-the-fold placement of the Washington Post article “Young Palestinians describe harsh treatment in Israeli jails” (12/04/23) describing alleged Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.  With the origin of the recent Israeli/Palestinian war being the broken ceasefire and subsequent barbaric massacre by Hamas of 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians from infants to the aged, along with the taking of 240 hostages, also from infants to the aged, it wasn’t surprising to see The Washington Post have an article sympathetic to the initiators of the massacre — the Hamas-led Palestinians.  With the apparent end of what amounted to an exchange of innocent Israeli hostages with Palestinian criminals, the Post’s interest was to highlight alleged trauma that the Palestinian prisoners received rather than the Israeli hostages stolen from their homes and families.

It is mind-blowing how the Washington Post can attempt to build a case critical of Israel for claims of, for example, occasional solitary confinement compared to Hamas gang-raping women, mutilation and dismemberment, and wholesale murder of Jewish civilians.  Hamas cut off the fingers and limbs of children in front of their parents, murdered parents in front of their children, gouged eyes out.  Does the Post really see an equivalence?

The message of the article both in content and placement is clear.  The Washington Post has an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish animus.  There is no other explanation why there would be a front-page, above-the-fold article, critical of Israel, for its alleged mistreatment of prisoners while neglecting the drugging, the raping, the dismemberment of Israelis on October 7.

One anecdotal story published was about Palestinian prisoner Noah Bseso, who “spent some of his days in windowless solitary confinement.”  And, as if a punishment, only after being released had he heard “the details of the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.”  He was incarcerated for assault and in the process of being scheduled to be sentenced when he was exchanged.  The Post did not elaborate on the circumstances that went with the extra punishment of the alleged days of solitary confinement.

The other anecdotal story in the article is about a Palestinian prisoner, Malek Debeh, who was “convicted of rioting.”  Contrary to the theme of the article, this prisoner actually admitted that “incarceration was tolerable.”  Tolerable!  His objection was that after October 7, “the food became mostly bread and undercooked rice.”

These two stories amounted to a desperate search to find something against Israel, to punish Israel, yet the examples of Israeli wrongdoing were clearly nothing-burgers. 

In reality, treatment of prisoners in Israel and the territories is far better than what any prisoner in the Middle East is likely to get.  According to the article, “Israeli prison authorities told The Washington Post that they were unaware of the specific claims of mistreatment made by Bseso and several other recently freed prisoners. ... All prisoners are detained according to the provisions of the law,” the Israel prison service said in an email response to detailed questions.  “We are not aware of the claims you described.  Nonetheless, prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined by official authorities.”

If only the Israeli hostages — tortured, starved, dismembered, raped, and murdered — had a fraction of such rights.

Image: Daniel X. O'Neil via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.