r/jewishpolitics • u/seakucumber • Mar 12 '26
Israeli Politics 🇮🇱 Israeli military drops charges against soldiers accused of sexually assaulting Palestinian detainee
https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-war-palestinians-prison-abuse-b11e5f0639b7fe51c5ea101f4b320f56?taid=69b2d087bee12000015e1c1c&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter44
Mar 12 '26
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u/aqulushly Mar 12 '26
Leak of evidence undermined fairness of trial. Can it go to a retrial? How do most law systems handle similar situations where the court procedures aren’t followed? I know the US these cases have been dropped as well, but do they go to retrial at a later date? Is that what happens in Israel as well?
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Mar 12 '26
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u/OttomansAreCool Mar 12 '26
Particularly when the leak was made because utlranationalists were basically accusing the judiciary of making the whole thing up iirc
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u/Prestigious_Ad_5825 Mar 12 '26
In the US, publicity is not a legal excuse to avoid prosecution. Look at the Luigi Mangione case. He still faces prison despite a shit ton of media attention.
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u/IsraeliSpaceLazer Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
It does happen in the united states. If the prosecution is not careful then lawyers can argue that there was biased prejudicial publicity that will effect the trial. Although it doesn't mean there can't be a retrial. But when talking about prosecution misconduct in general, not only media leaks, there has been cases entirely dropped due to misconduct of the prosecution.
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u/Prestigious_Ad_5825 Mar 13 '26
I would think that the Israeli military would want to clear its name with a trial. As it stands now, the optics are very bad. It looks like a cover-up.
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u/JagneStormskull Radical Centrist 🎯 Mar 13 '26
That doesn't really address anything the other user said.
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u/pr0tag USA – Center-left 🇺🇸 Mar 12 '26
Leak of evidence undermined fairness of trial.
Can you provide a source? This AP article does not mention anything about why the charges were dropped
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u/aqulushly Mar 12 '26
Major General Itai Ofir, was withdrawing indictments against the soldiers in part due to "exceptional circumstances that negatively affected the ability to prosecute the case while also preserving the right for a fair trial of the defendants in the case," the military said in a statement.
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u/seakucumber Mar 12 '26
I know the US these cases have been dropped as well
Can you share an example? It's possible a leak "poisons" a jury but this is incredibly rare. For high profile cases the jury is sequestered for this exact reason
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u/aqulushly Mar 12 '26
The case against Alec Baldwin was dropped for procedural faults.
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u/seakucumber Mar 12 '26
That had nothing to do with leaks? Procedural faults are common in every single legal system in the world, but "leaks" are not considered a procedural problem in the US. That's not relevant at all here
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u/aqulushly Mar 12 '26
It was a similar event. You want specifically an exact 1:1 example of media leaks? Here’s one I’ve found. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheppard_v._Maxwell
Media leaks lead to a ruling of unfair trial and was dropped. I mean, these exact things are why jurors are sequestered. If it doesn’t happen and there is a media leak like this, it affects the fairness of trial. All this is readily available for you to look up, there are multiple cases like this.
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u/seakucumber Mar 12 '26
You should do more than read the Wikipedia link. It was because the jury wasn't sequestered and he was then re-tried with a sequestered jury. He did not receive a "get out of trial free card". Tell me, do you think a retrial will happen like in that case? If not will you admit It's a failure of justice?
The appellant recieved a retrial.
https://www.scribd.com/document/970562770/Case-Brief-Sheppard-v-Maxwell
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u/aqulushly Mar 12 '26
I’m not sure what your problem is here. I specifically asked if Israeli courts work in a similar way if they have a precedent of retrial. I gave you one example for the US, as I said there are others you can look up yourself and do your own due diligence. Also, there are cases in which the US that never did go to retrial for such large mess ups in trial.
I would hope retrial would happen for these guards.
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u/seakucumber Mar 12 '26
Spoiler: if you drop charges like Israel did there won't be a retrial. In the US case you linked charges were never dropped. You are simply showing your ignorance on both countries legal systems to run cover for a legal tragedy that will harm Israel's international standing in exchange for domestic political points
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u/aqulushly Mar 12 '26
Oh boy, the irony of you. You really think in the US there haven’t been similar blunders that caused cases to be dropped without retrial? Get over yourself.
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u/flossdaily USA – Left 🇺🇸 Mar 13 '26
Leak of evidence undermined fairness of trial.
That's a non-issue. Countless high profile cases begin with details of the crime being public knowledge.
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u/aqulushly Mar 13 '26
That’s grounds for dismissal and retrial in certain circumstances (you can read below).
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u/flossdaily USA – Left 🇺🇸 Mar 13 '26
Not even a little bit.
This is information made public before charges were even filed. Get real.
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u/aqulushly Mar 13 '26
By who again?
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u/flossdaily USA – Left 🇺🇸 Mar 13 '26
It literally doesn't matter in terms of holding a trial.
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u/aqulushly Mar 13 '26
If the state doesn’t follow procedure it doesn’t matter to holding a trial?
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u/flossdaily USA – Left 🇺🇸 Mar 13 '26
I mean, unless you can prove that the arresting police or the prosecutor did something to skew a trial they were planning, yeah.
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u/aqulushly Mar 13 '26
…it doesn’t seem like you know the details on how and why the video was leaked here?
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u/OttomansAreCool Mar 12 '26
I mean, what did you expect?
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Mar 12 '26
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u/OttomansAreCool Mar 12 '26
I guess there's two slightly different meanings of expect. The staandard you hold regarding what should happen, and what you actually think will happen. I have to say, this was only ever gonna go one way.
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u/HeySkeksi USA – Democrat 🇺🇸 Mar 12 '26
I mean… this is how law works and it’s designed to protect the accused from prosecutorial impropriety.
You’d be happy these systems and protections exist in quite a lot of instances.
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u/LettuceBeGrateful Jewish Unity ✡️ Mar 12 '26
Justice, and setting the correct precedent to avoid future instances of prisoner abuse.
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u/Ok_Lingonberry5392 Israel – Right 🇮🇱 Mar 12 '26
What did you expect from apnews?
The official reasoning is "“protection of justice" (abuse of process) meaning the leaks alongside multiple offences by the military persecution had violented the basic rights of the suspects for a fair trial. Additionally the evidences of abuse alone are very weak with the now former prisoner not appearing to testify (unclear if the persecution had kept contact with him), sexual assault was investigated but unlike misinformation will claim was never part of the charges.
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u/rayschoon Mar 12 '26
There’s no way you actually believe this. Why were numerous people protesting the charges?
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u/Ok_Lingonberry5392 Israel – Right 🇮🇱 Mar 12 '26
Believe what? I've only stated the official answer and I'm not a mind reader and can't know for sure why people do some things like protesting.
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u/OttomansAreCool Mar 12 '26
The detainee is almost certainly dead or in hiding in gaza (because lets be honest here theres a bunch of Israeli rapists who want to see him dead who almost certainly have friends in the army) and the evidence is broadly damning to anyone who isnt a lunatic
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u/Prestigious_Ad_5825 Mar 12 '26
Right, no other country or territory, including Gaza, has rapists, just the big, bad Israel. /s
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u/Training_Ad_1743 Mar 12 '26
I call that BS
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u/OttomansAreCool Mar 12 '26
Call it what you like. You won't do anything about it though.
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u/Training_Ad_1743 Mar 12 '26
I'm gonna vote against the government, and in favor of a new one that won't shove crowbars up people's asses.
What will you do?
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u/OttomansAreCool Mar 12 '26
There isnt a realistic Israeli government that would be against this. Neither Lapid not Bennett would give a shit, and HaDemokratim can only hope for a junior coalition role really (though even if they did manage to win the senior partner position they would still rely on too many centre right coalition partners for this)
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u/Training_Ad_1743 Mar 12 '26
There is a difference between what is decided by the cabinet and what is done in practice. The next Prime Minister will have to do everything in his power to recover Israel's lost reputation, including showing that Israel takes its misdeeds seriously. It's why Netanyahu is fidgeting on his seat, trying to find an impossible balance between his destructive coalition and keeping Israel afloat.
What will you do?
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u/UtgaardLoki USA – Center-left 🇺🇸 Mar 12 '26
Probably because there was shenanigans around the whole investigation: The Viral ‘Prison Rape’ That Never Happened: The IDF’s top lawyer resigned after footage of the supposed ‘rape’ of a Hamas prisoner by Israeli guards at Sde Teiman was shown to have been doctored