I felt compelled to transcribe and share this 21-minute interview that Owen Jones conducted with Dr. Nick Maynard. It’s about about rape and many other forms of sexual violence perpetrated against Palestinian men, women, and children by Israeli soldiers and other personnel. As his website notes, Professor Maynard is a leading consultant Upper GI Surgeon based in Oxford, with more than 25 years of experience in his field. As his site also points out, “Professor Maynard has worked extensively in Gaza since 2010 teaching medical students and carrying out upper GI surgery. He has travelled out to Gaza regularly during the recent war providing humanitarian aid. He has recently been awarded the Humanitarian Medal by King Charles for his humanitarian work in Gaza.”
In addition to rape, this sexual violence includes electric shocks that pass through detainees’ penises, testicles damaged beyond repair, anal rape, women and girls being forced to undress in public, unwanted sexual touching, rape threats in front of their children, threats to distribute degrading photos and video of the victims online, settlers aka land thieves exposing themselves to Palestinian children in the West Bank, etc., ad nauseam. Adnan al-Bursh, a well-known orthopedic surgeon who was abducted and illegally detained, was killed under torture, which included being raped systematically daily for two weeks.
This is one of many graphic examples of the level of hatred most Israelis have for Palestinians. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the only difference between Israel and Nazi Germany is that the latter want to keep the Final Solution (extermination of European Jews) and the death camps a secret while the former has been very open since Day One (October 2023) about its genocidal intentions in Gaza as part of the regional land grab known as the Greater Israel project. Israel continues its industrial-scale slaughter, torture, and displacement with impunity because “the world does not stop us,” in the words of Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, leader of the Religious Zionist Party, and hardcore genocider. I remember the reaction of some when I referred to Palestinians in Gaza as the Jews of the 21st century and the genocide in Gaza as Israel’s Final Solution. This is one of those times I hate being right.
For obvious reasons, this interview is NSFW, as is this article that Dr. Maynard co-authored: Sexual violence against Palestinians (13.10.26). Note: OJ refers to Owen Jones and NM to Nick Maynard.
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OJ: Rape, electric shocks to the genitals, sexual assaults so severe that prisoners have needed surgery. Now, these are amongst the horrific abuses documented against Palestinians in Israeli detention. A new article in the British Medical Journal, and it’s a devastating article, it goes through a truly horrific body of evidence.
Now, a UN investigation has already concluded that certain forms of sexual violence have become part of the Israeli security forces’ de facto standard operating procedures, that sexual torture, including rape, was committed with either explicit orders or implicit encouragement from senior Israeli leaders. More than half of 165 Palestinian children surveyed reported witnessing or experiencing sexual violence in Israeli detention, and 17 of 59 Palestinian journalists who were interviewed after their release from Israeli detention also reported sexual violence, including two who described rape. And this also must be seen in the context of the affordable attempt to drive Palestinians from their land.
So just how widespread is this abuse, and why so little accountability? And that is a question which many will already probably have answers to already, but it’s so important we go through this. It really is absolutely horrific, and my colleagues in the Western media are not actually, as ever, properly reporting this at all. Now, I’m delighted to be joined by the brilliant Oxford surgeon Nick Maynard, who has served three times in Gaza during the genocide.
I’ve previously interviewed him on this channel about the horrific atrocities that he’s witnessed, committed by the Israeli state, and he’s one of the authors of this important article. Great to speak to you. How are you doing?
NM: I’m very well. Thanks for having me on here today, Owen.
OJ: Should we just start in terms of how systematic we’re talking? How systematic is the evidence in terms of what, you know, the industrialized nature almost?
NM: It is systematic. This is far more than just isolated reports of sexual violence.
I think all of us who’ve been in Gaza, and indeed in the West Bank, have witnessed such episodes. I’ve seen them as, you know, long ago as 2006, 2007, when I was teaching in the West Bank. I’ve seen them in Gaza.
I’ve taken testimonies from individuals in Gaza. But this paper does a lot more than that. It really examines all the evidence over many years, going back to the 1990s, indeed, and quoting the investigations by the United Nations, by Amnesty, many, many other human rights groups.
And this shows very clearly a systematic pattern of abuse of Palestinian detainees using sexual violence and affecting women, children and men. Very clearly systematic.
OJ: I mean, this might seem like a slightly odd question in a way, but what do you think is driving it? Why is the Israeli state and its soldiers, its representatives, why are they unleashing this tidal wave of sexual violence against Palestinians?
NM: I think it’s, as similar to you and I have discussed in previous interviews, the targeting of healthcare workers, the targeting of civilians, the targeting of children that I’ve witnessed with my own eyes in Gaza and in West Bank in previous years.
I think this is a core policy of the Israeli government and military. And I think it’s fundamental to their policy over many years of ethnically cleansing the occupied Palestinian territories. They want to humiliate these people.
They want to drive them out, so they actually want to leave these territories. So I think it’s a very, very core policy and has been for many years.
OJ: I mean, just in terms of that displacement.
So more than 70% of the displaced Palestinian households who were interviewed in the West Bank identify threats to women and children, particularly sexualized violence, as a decisive reason they fled their homes. This is an instrument of ethnic cleansing in part.
NM: Exactly.
As I said, I mean, that was 28 households out of 36 or something. They all talked about very explicit examples of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and this led to them leaving the West Bank and effectively being forcibly displaced. And there are so many examples of this over so many years that I think it is, as we’ve discussed, part of their core policy of ethnic cleansing.
OJ: I was in the West Bank a year ago and in one Palestinian home, which is just encased and basically imprisoned, his land has been built on by illegal Israeli settlers. And he’s in this cage with his little kids with an electric gate, letting them out. And they told us that Israeli settlers would strip themselves naked when the children were out, as in his children out.
So they would, in an attempt to intimidate, harass little kids. In terms of the, what we’re talking about, I mean, this is grim to talk about, but we have to bear witness. You have to explain what we’re talking about.
Just how extreme are we talking in terms of sexual torture?
NM: Well, I’ve taken testimonies myself when I was in Gaza of two friends of mine, a young male nurse, a young male doctor, who were both abducted and illegally detained from their hospitals in Gaza back in the early part of 2024. And they described in graphic detail how they had had electric shocks pass through their penises, how they had specifically had their genitals beaten repeatedly day after day after day whilst being told, and I quote them here, this will stop you having any more terrorist children. So I’m being graphic, because these are the exact words they use with me.
They described the most appalling abuse. We’ve also heard about the abuse in some of the Israeli prisons, that of Adnan al-Bursh, for example, an iconic orthopedic surgeon who was abducted, illegally detained. He was killed under torture, and a Sky investigative journalist detailed that his mode of abuse, of his torture, had been being raped systematically daily for two weeks.
The document by Health Workers Watch, which is called the Killing, Detention and Torture of Healthcare Workers in Gaza, which I think we discussed in the previous interview, was published in 2024, cites multiple examples in graphic detail of testimonies taken citing the most appalling sexual abuse, including anal rape, with people ending up having to have emergency surgery, colostomy formations, testicles being damaged beyond repair, therefore having long-term permanent effects on fertility, appalling damage to the bladder, so that their ability to pass urine properly is forever damaged. So really, really quite appalling abuse.
OJ: Yeah, I mean, one documented case you look at involves a ruptured rectum requiring surgery, and it’s indescribably horrific.
And we were talking here as well, we’re talking about sexual violence against children.
NM: Yeah, I mean, I think this is part of the pattern that we witnessed, those of us who have been in Gaza and in the West Bank have witnessed for many years. I mean, again, we’ve talked about the targeting of children in Gaza.
There have been numerous examples, and we referenced these in our paper, of children being abused sexually, whether it’s simply having male soldiers expose themselves to them, or settlers expose themselves to more graphic physical abuse, numerous examples.
OJ: And what’s the lasting impact on those children?
NM: Oh, I mean, I’ve sort of talked about the fertility impact, which can be clearly lifelong, the impact on their urinary functions, their need for surgery to reconstruct their genital tracts, but also, of course, the chronic pain they will get and appalling psychological trauma. And again, we talk about this in our paper and reference it, the long standing psychological damage these children will have, which will probably never be repaired.
OJ:L I mean, I see that 20% reported intentional self harm, while 45% didn’t return to school after release, describing nightmares, panic attacks, depression, social withdrawal. And Palestinian women and girls have faced widespread sexualized humiliation.
NM: Yes, I think, and this forces many of the Palestinian families to get their young daughters married off as soon as they can in order to take them away from that violence.
But they are, these again, will have long-term psychological impacts, which they will may never recover from. And of course, let’s not forget that in the West Bank and in Gaza, particularly now, the availability of psychological support, psychiatric support, to try and help these people is enormously limited at the moment. And so there is no effective treatment for them.
NM: I can see that, you know, in the report, documented allegations in terms of Palestinian women and girls have forced public undressing, unwanted sexual touching, rape threats in front of their children, denial of sanitary pads and detention, and threats to distribute degrading footage of them online. And of course, there’s people will have seen Israeli soldiers posting photographs and videos displaying Palestinian women’s underwear taken from homes in Gaza. Some of those women, all those women displaced, but some of them killed, maimed, obviously starved, we could go on.
And I think when we see Israeli soldiers behaving like that on camera with women’s underwear, what are they doing off camera?
NM: Speak for themselves. And we’ve all seen these, these are all available for us to see. And there are so many examples, it’s very clear the evidence.
NM: There’s a stigma, well, in every culture, when it comes to talking about sexual violence, isn’t it about survivors being able to talk about it. So I mean, part of the issue must be that we actually don’t know the full scale, because lots of survivors don’t don’t speak out about this.
NM: I think we make this point that this is grossly underreported.
And most media outlets, even when it is out there, are not reporting this anyway. So I think this is what’s so important about this paper and spreading it widely through media outlets such as yours to make sure people are aware of it. And to make the very clear point, this is much, much more common than people realise.
OJ: For Israeli soldiers who engage in sexual violence against Palestinians. If they do that, what do they think will happen to them?
NM: Well, I think the evidence speaks for itself. I mean, there’s one of the references we referenced, that some of these are investigated.
But of over 1000, I think over 1200 cases investigated by the Israeli legal services, less than 1% have resulted in convictions. And of course, that was that very famous case at today, Taman detention centre, when the evidence demonstrating the abuse of those victims was graphic and detailed. And I think one of the perpetrators was convicted, but all the others were let off.
So I think the clear evidence, and again, we address this in our paper, is the vast majority do not lead to any convictions at all. And I think there are vast numbers of examples when the Israeli military, the Israeli legal services have said they will investigate and then we hear nothing more. So nothing happens.
And I think they have, I mean, it’s the same as so many of these atrocities that have been committed over the last few years, that they know that they are able to act with impunity and we have, our countries, our governments have not called these activities out.
OJ: I mean, that case you mentioned where there was charges originally, which triggered pro-rape riots, not an exaggeration on the streets of Tel Aviv, in which a government minister participated and other Israeli politicians. And the argument at the time was the reason they’d made this attempt to charge was because the International Criminal Court justifies its mandate on the basis of a justice system in a country being unprepared to take action against them.
So Israel was trying to prove, yes, we do, look, we’ve taken these measures against this particular, in this particular case, therefore you can’t issue further charges about rape and torture, for example. But in any case, after these riots, the top military lawyer dropped all charges against the five soldiers accused and they were presented as national heroes on television.
NM: Absolutely, and there are numerous recordings of them on television being feted, being heroes, becoming media celebrities now.
I mean, it’s disgusting to see that.
OJ: Of the, you mentioned the over 1200 cases of alleged offences in which just 11, 0.8% result in indictments. But that, I mean, that was between 2017 and 2021, wasn’t it? That’s before the genocide.
So, I mean, now it’s just, I mean, that’s, it was impunity, but this is on a much bigger scale with more impunity.
NM: With, and far fewer convictions. Absolutely, that percentage was a high point in many ways.
Now it’s much lower than that. I mean, I think virtually nothing has been, other, I mean, nothing has been followed up. None of these convictions are taking place.
So I think the percentage is even lower than that.
OJ: In terms of the UN Commission of Inquiry being able to investigate, what’s, what’s, what’s been the situation there?
NM: Well, they’ve investigated and there are numerous UN reports that we have seen detailing all this. But of course, that doesn’t, isn’t followed up by any actions.
There is no systematic monitoring. They’re certainly not being held to account. But the evidence is there, and we’ve cited those UN Commission findings, which detail all of this.
But, but our Western governments, as they have failed in so many other aspects of this military assault over the last three years, need to insist there is proper monitoring of these violations, and there are proper investigations and that the perpetrators are held to account. But none of that is happening, as we know.
OJ: And Israel has been preventing the UN Commission, hasn’t it, from having access to Israel and the occupied territories, and also they’ve, they’ve prevented the Red Cross from being able to visit Palestinian detainees in custody.
NM: Absolutely. And one only has to think about detainees like Hussam Abu Safir, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, whose relatives I’m in contact with on a regular basis. He is frequently being denied any medical help at all.
He, there is, his lawyers has described how he has been savagely beaten on many, many occasions, but they are refusing all medical access to him and many other people. And the ones I’ve spoken to, the individuals I’ve spoken to, when they were detained for 60, 70 days, no medical care whatsoever. We’ve heard about those who are on the flotilla who were imprisoned, they were denied medical care as well.
So there are numerous examples of this. And despite the United Nations coming out with the clearest recommendations, these are just ignored by the Israeli authorities.
OJ: What do you make of the lack of media coverage of the overwhelming evidence of sexual violence perpetrated by the Israeli state against Palestinians?
NM: Well, it’s symptomatic of the whole of the mainstream Western media has behaved over the last few years.
We’ve talked about that previously. A lot of the medical humanitarian atrocities that I’ve described, and many other healthcare works have described have simply not been reported in the media, which is why it’s so important that people who have witnessed these things do speak out about it. We can all speculate as to why that’s been the case.
But what is beyond doubt that we are totally reliant upon independent media outputs like yours and others to report this because the mainstream media like the BBC in particular are simply not reporting it.
OJ: The British government, with the change of Prime Minister, has issued an apology, Andy Burnham issued an apology, based on the positioning certainly of Labour in opposition when the genocide began. And Ed Miliband, the new Foreign Secretary, has instituted sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Now, obviously, a lot of people know that’s not wildly insufficient, given the crime of crimes has been committed, genocide.
Nonetheless, they have been forced to move, albeit not enough, by popular pressure, by people building pressure. What should the British government, what’s the kind of demands from people like yourself, who’ve served in Gaza, who’ve seen the genocide of violence that Israel has unleashed against the civilian population? What are the demands, people like yourself, doctors like yourself, on the British government? I
NM: think we must demand that there is proper monitoring of all of those who are in captivity in the detention centres. There is proper monitoring of those who are being attacked by settlers in the West Bank.
And when such crimes are identified, we need to be reassured there is going to be proper investigation. Many of these people are not getting adequate medical help, they’re not getting specialist attention. We’ve talked about the medical attention they need.
They need specialist urological input. They need specialist gynaecological input. They will, of course, need specialist psychological and psychiatric support.
So they need to be provided with adequate medical care. And I think when perpetrators are identified as being guilty of these crimes, then I think there needs to be sanctions against them as well. And I guess the final point is that anything that our government is doing that might contribute to these, such as complying with security cooperation or arms transfers, all need to be banned as well.
So I think, I mean, I agree with you. I think we’ve all been, we’ve welcomed the tone, the change in tone from our foreign secretary. But I think we need to see some concrete actions and we need to see them rapidly.
And I think this provides a very clear area where those concrete actions can be fulfilled by our government.
OJ: This is, again, really crucial, really crucial work. It’s horrific, horrific evidence.
And all of us in states which are allied to Israel, which provide weapons, diplomatic, political support for Israel, have a responsibility to speak out as best we can as Palestinians are being tortured, raped and murdered on a colossal scale with the complicity of both our governments and our media outlets, the industry in which I work. So this is absolutely crucial evidence. It’s so important we document the full, as best we can, the full scale of the crime.
It’s so difficult to do because it’s such a, you know, it’s a crime with so many crimes packaged within it. It’s hard to grasp the scale of it sometimes. But this is really crucial work.
So please do share the video, press like, subscribe and leave comments. This all encourages people to engage and to hear what Nick has to tell us. Nick, your work’s been absolutely crucial all the way through the genocide.
You’ve been, you know, I can imagine the emotional labour it’s taken. You’ve seen horrors the vast majority of us will probably struggle to imagine. But your voice has been so important.
So thank you for your work as ever. I know everyone watching this will want to echo that.
NM: Well, thank you for listening, Owen, and thank you for your help in getting this out there.
