Israel may close case of Shin Bet officials who ordered search of Palestine woman’s private parts

Israel is expected to close an investigation against two Shin Bet officers who are suspected of ordering female soldiers to search the private parts of a Palestinian woman for no reason, Haaretz reported.

Three Shin Bet personnel have been questioned by a team of police officers in the Justice Department and the Military Police in relation to the alleged offense which took place in 2015.

Two of those questioned are expected to undergo a disciplinary tribunal, Haartez reported a source as saying.

An officer in the Israeli army was also questioned on suspicion of instructing female soldiers to carry out similar searches. He said he was complying with a Shin Bet official’s instruction.

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A Palestinian woman had put in a complaint that in 2015 Israeli occupation forces “interrogated her and threatened her, while soldiers searched her home. After the search, one of the Shin Bet men ordered two female soldiers in the group to search her private parts.”

Haaretz explained that the soldiers “took her aside, stripped her and performed an ‘invasive search, like a gynecologic examination’ according to the complaint. The woman resisted, but one of the female soldiers told her that if she refuses, the group could carry out the search on her forcibly.”

The Palestinian woman was later convicted of lesser offenses than those that had led to her arrest and was handed a two year prison term, but was released soon after.

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