Hebron resident Suzan Jabir, who volunteers with Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, told Ma’an that military checkpoints around the Ibrahimi mosque, the old marketplace and Jabir quarter have become site to more degrading treatment than had existed previously.
“Israeli occupation forces inspect every child, woman and young man” twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Suzan said.
“I have been inspected several times by Israeli soldiers, and when I requested that they bring a female soldier to inspect women, they refused and threatened to shoot me if I don’t comply with their orders,” Suzan told Ma’an.
While a sign in Arabic before each checkpoint reads “stop for inspection,” Suzan told Ma’an that Israeli forces stop people for hours and force them to face a wall motionlessly.
Suzan said that the forces “humiliate, kill and detain men, women, children and elderly people...the only pretext is the security obsession and alleged fear from stabbing attacks.”
Ma'an helpfully provides a video of three women being subjected to these "humiliating inspections" from male IDF soldiers.
And the video contradicts every one of Jabir's accusations and insinuations.
- Each inspection takes less than a minute.
- The women being inspected do not seem traumatized or even very inconvenienced.
- There is no need for a woman inspector, because there is no physical contact at all.
Of course, the fact that so many stabbing attacks have occurred and some thwarted in Hebron belies her claim that the fear of terror is merely a "pretext" for "degrading treatment."
I have gone through equally humiliating treatment at concerts - being inspected with a metal detector wand and having my bag inspected.This shows how trustworthy B'Tselem workers are.
