More: Sari Bashi, the executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said publishing the photo itself constituted a war crime, because of the prohibition under international humanitarian law against depicting prisoners or detainees in humiliating states.
"There's the posting, and then there's what it appears to show," she said. That, too, may be a war crime, she said: "The way in which he was confined raises strong concerns that the method of confinement was a form of punishment that could amount to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, or even torture," depending on how much the man suffered.
Israeli soldiers have frequently posted apparently incriminating photographs and videos of themselves during the war. Rights groups say it reflects a cultural shift in the military that is at odds with its insistence that such incidents break with its rules and norms.
"The soldiers are taking their cue from the highest levels," Ms. Bashi said. She recalled that the defense minister, Israel Katz, had met with and was said to have apologized to five reservists after charges were dropped against them in a case involving the abuse of a Palestinian prisoner who suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung and a torn rectum.
"If I were a foot soldier," Ms. Bashi said, "I would think this is all OK and even desirable."
Oneg Ben Dror, a project coordinator for Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, who also said the published photo was evidence of two war crimes, said the mistreatment depicted was exceptional only because it had been so clearly documented. Thousands of Palestinians have testified to having been tortured in Israeli prisons and military camps, she said.
"It's not a unique case," she added. "This time, the soldiers took a photo of it."
Amani Sarahneh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners Association, said the photo showed how Israeli soldiers acted with impunity and underscored the "violence and brutality" that detainees have endured.
She also argued that the original dissemination of such a photo was "an effort to shape public consciousness through intimidation and psychological deterrence by using images such as these and the impact they have on Palestinians more broadly."
