- Israeli Defence Force (IDF) adopt torture tactics similar to those used on Guantanamo bay detainees, such as blind folding Palestinians and forcing them to listen to loud music on loop.
- Israel incarcerates 500-700 children annually, including those as young as twelve, subjecting them to the most extreme forms of torture.
Following the events of September 11th, many detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, who were denied a fair trial and were later exonerated, endured inhumane forms of torture. These actions remain unaddressed and unaccounted for.
As indicated by prior reports on the torture practices at Guantanamo Bay, the continuous playback of a specific song or album at exceedingly high volumes was incorporated. This was intended to keep detainees awake over extended periods. A 2008 Associated Press (AP) report on the conditions of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay noted the use of music as a tool “to create fear, induce disorientation, and prolong capture shock.”
In 2008, Justine Sharrock made a list of songs that she learnt from ex-soldiers and detainees had been used in the form of a torture tactic in Guantanamo Bay. Here is a portion of the list:
- Dope: “Die MF Die”, “Take Your Best Shot”
- Eminem: “White America”, “Kim”
- Barney & Friends: theme song
- Drowning Pool: “Bodies”
- Metallica: “Enter Sandman”
- Meow Mix: commercial jingle
Brother Moazzam Begg, a British Muslim who was arrested by the CIA in Pakistan in February 2022 wrote in his memoir:
“In a sense the music didn’t bother me. I’d grown up in Britain, I knew what it was. But Afghan villagers, Yemenis, these guys were dazed, dazzled and confused, bewildered, completely out of it,”
“Imagine you are given a choice,” Binyam Mohamed, a Guantanamo Bay detainee told The Guardian in 2008. “Lose your sight or lose your mind.”
“Whereas stress positions and the like are intended to make the vulnerabilities of a human being’s own body betray him and cause him pain, both ‘futility music’ and ‘gender coercion’ target the practices by which a human being’s cultural beliefs are embodied, performed, and made real as ethical practices,” Suzanne G. Cusick wrote for the Journal of the Society for American Music in 2008.
Israeli Defence Force (IDF) Torture Tactics
Similarly, the song used by the IDF to torture Palestinians in 2023, is sang by Israeli children’s entertainer Meni Mamtera. In the initial Oct. 15 video, reports claimed that Palestinian detainees were blindfolded and forced to listen to the song, described similar to “Baby Shark-like,” on repeat for up to eight hours.
Presently, in a grotesque act, numerous Israelis on social media have replicated the original video, featuring their friends and family. Yinon Magal, an Israeli journalist and politician, shared a reenactment video featuring his children.
Palestinian Children tortured and held in Prison by Israel
Israel holds at least 500-700 children in prison every year, some as young as twelve. The children are brought before a military court system that lacks fundamental fair trial protections and is infamous for its prevalent and institutionalised mistreatment of Palestinian child detainees. Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) gathered 766 sworn affidavits from Palestinian children who were apprehended by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank between the years 2016 and 2022. The following information outlines the various forms of abuse reported by these children.
