Gideon Levy in Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, July 5: I Thought It Was AI or Art. It Was a Palestinian Zip-tied to a Pole in Gaza

What brings a young Israeli, someone serving in a combat unit, to torture a man by tying him to a pole? Did he wrong them somehow? He's their age, after all. Did they think about his life or his dreams? About his past, present and future?
Gideon Levy


He is lying in his underwear, almost naked, on his stomach. His eyes are covered with a rag. His face is pressed against a cot on which his kidnappers have placed him. His hands are behind his back, tied with plastic zip ties, tightly and painfully. His torso is tied to the bed with cords. On his leg, there are two red bruises.
So far, a routine picture of a detained Palestinian, but this time, the abuse also includes an original accessory: a wooden pole, the top of which is covered in iron for unclear reasons. It's tied across the length of his body, looking like an African spear. One might guess that its purpose is to prevent the victim from bending, even for a moment.
For a moment, I thought it was an artistic protest installation, perhaps an AI-generated picture reflecting despair in light of all the horrors in Gaza. But it wasn't. The IDF announced that "the incident in question has been located," that "it is being investigated at the command level" and that "those involved would be dealt with in accordance with the results of the investigation."


There's no need to waste words on how it would be expected to be "dealt" with. On a really good day, the abusive soldiers would be suspended from duty for two hours.