Israel Shocked: Military Lawyer Faces Consequences for Leaking Truth
NPR's headline frames the jailing of a military lawyer for leaking footage of 'severe abuses of Palestinians' as an 'Israel rocked by scandal' moment. The actual scandal isn't the act of abuse itself, which has well-documented historical precedence (see B'Tselem's extensive records) , but that the legal system responds to a whistleblower with imprisonment. This same system routinely fails to
prosecute Israeli soldiers implicated in abuses, with conviction rates hovering near 0.15% (Human Rights Watch, 2020) . One might wonder if the outrage is truly about the 'abuses,' or about the inconvenient truth being made public. The jailing of a truth-teller while such 'abuses' continue, often with robust U.S. military aid—aid consistently supported by politicians receiving significant
pro-Israel lobbying funds (OpenSecrets.org data on AIPAC donations) —raises questions about whose interests are genuinely served by these 'scandals.'