[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 82 (Thursday, May 14, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2292-S2293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SEXUAL VIOLENCE

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, multiple press articles and reports by 
human rights organizations, as well as United Nations human rights 
investigators, have documented widespread acts of horrific sexual 
violence against prisoners in the Middle East over many years. These 
articles and these reports describe--often in graphic, gruesome 
detail--a consistent pattern of sexual abuse corroborated by multiple 
sources and in some cases with shocking photographs and videos posted 
on social media by the perpetrators themselves.
  These allegations amount to gross violations of human rights, 
including torture, and if committed by members of foreign military and 
police forces that receive training or equipment from the United 
States, they are sanctionable under U.S. law--the Leahy Law.
  In Egypt, allegations of acts of systemic sexual violence against 
prisoners are not new. The allegations have been the subject of 
reports, including by U.S. and Egyptian human rights organizations and 
the Department of State, for many years.
  We also know that Hamas militants who invaded Israel on October 7, 
2023, committed absolutely brutal acts of sexual violence, including 
gang rape, against Israelis during the attack and against Israeli 
hostages.
  On May 12, a team of Israeli researchers released a report which 
concluded that sexual violence by Hamas militants against women and men 
was ``systematic, widespread and integral'' to the attack. Many of us 
have condemned those barbaric crimes and called for justice for the 
Israeli victims.
  I personally still have vivid memories of hearing personally of the 
horrors of these attacks from Israeli victims who bravely came and 
spoke to Members of the U.S. Senate.
  There is also extensive evidence, both before and after October 7, of 
a pattern of sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners by Israeli 
security forces. Allegations of such abuses in Israeli prisons are not 
new, but they have sharply increased since October 7.
  So have reports of widespread abuses and killings of Palestinian 
civilians by Israeli soldiers and acts of violence, including sexual 
assault and murder by Israeli settlers which reportedly continue to 
this day.
  I will not repeat the gruesome details of the attacks reportedly 
committed against Palestinian prisoners by Israeli soldiers, but I do 
urge my colleagues, as uncomfortable as it may be, to read the articles 
by Nicholas Kristof in the May 11 New York Times entitled ``The Horror 
of Sexual Assault in Israeli Prisons,'' and ``The Silence That Meets 
the Rape of Palestinians.''
  The heinous acts that were described to him by former prisoners and 
witnesses, if proven in a court of law, would warrant decades-long 
prison sentences. Despite overwhelming evidence,

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Egyptian authorities and Hamas officials have denied that forces under 
their command have sexually assaulted prisoners.
  Likewise, Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, 
while rightly condemning Hamas's acts of sexual violence, dismissed out 
of hand the reports of similar acts by Israeli soldiers as 
fabrications.
  The fact is that these are not isolated reports, nor are victims of 
sexual violence prone to voluntarily invite the public scrutiny and 
profound embarrassment that comes with describing being subjected to 
these types of humiliating mistreatment.
  Every year, Egypt and Israel receive more military aid paid for by 
American taxpayers than any other countries, and that is by far. Yet 
neither of their governments, nor our own, have shown the slightest 
concern about addressing longstanding allegations of the widespread use 
of sexual violence against prisoners in their custody.
  That is unacceptable. It must change. American taxpayer funds are 
directly supporting foreign military units that have been credibly 
implicated in rape and other abhorrent acts of sexual violence.
  The United States has long embraced in its foreign policy the 
protection of human rights. It is at the heart of the Leahy Law passed 
by this U.S. Senate. That law directs the Secretary of State to 
investigate credible reports of human rights abuses.
  In light of the credible reports of gross human rights abuses, I call 
upon the Secretary of State to act, to investigate, and to abide by the 
provisions of the Leahy Law.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Indiana.

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