Dakar Eilat: Inside prisons for Hamas terrorists

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Lazar Focus. Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what’s behind the news that spins the globe.

The New York Times printed a bombshell accusation against Israel this week. An op-ed by columnist Nicholas Kristof alleged widespread sexual abuse and rape against Palestinian prisoners.

WATCH the full episode here:

The column alleged “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.” Palestinians quoted in the piece said they’d even been mounted and raped by specially trained dogs.

Israel called the article “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel,” and promised to sue the NYT.

Some of the more extreme claims seem highly unlikely, to say the least, but could a group of guards — or a prison commander — be abusing prisoners in violation of the law?

Israel’s Prison Service (IPS) is not a well-understood security organization, as bodies like the IDF, the Shin Bet, Mossad, and police garner far more attention. But IPS holds thousands of hardened terrorists from groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and is an important part of the fight against those organizations.

To better understand the IPS, its oversight, and how prisoners are treated, we speak to Col. Dakar Eilat, who ran two prisons in Israel.

He explains the changes in the prison service’s approach to terrorist prisoners that took place two decades ago, removing their ability to order terror attacks from inside prison, and then again after the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks.

There is no question that after October 7, conditions for terrorists have been reduced to the minimum required by law, he says. But guards can’t do whatever they want. Everything that happens in prison is recorded by cameras, says Eilat, with footage then sent to prison service headquarters.

Eilat shares some of his personal experiences as a prison commander and the use of force. He says that one of his predecessors had been caught using illegal force on prisoners, and the prison commissioner brought him in to end the phenomenon.

That doesn’t mean that prisoners were treated lightly. There were strip searches of prisoners, and if they resist with force, “they will be met with force,” says Eilat.

Still, there are multiple oversight mechanisms, he says. Some 130 organizations — both Israeli and international — carry out inspections and oversight of prisons, and during some weeks, he had 5 snap inspections of his prisons.

As for the NYT allegations, he calls them “bullsh*t.” He says that — beyond the cameras — doctors in prisons have an independent chain of command and reporting mechanism, and they would catch signs of abuse. Dog training is overseen by animal rights groups, and official investigations of the prison service are carried out by the Justice Ministry and the police.

Covering up systematic abuse like that described in the Kristof piece would take hundreds of conspirators, says Eilat.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Gabriella Jacobs and video edited by Ari Schlacht.

Check out last week’s Lazar Focus: