‘Rape them with a rusty bar': Message sent to Israeli troops on coffee bag draws online support
A message containing a call to rape Palestinians, written on a coffee bag reportedly sent to Israeli soldiers in Gaza, drew widespread support from Israelis online.
"To our brave soldiers," read the writing on the coffee bag, pictured in social media posts on Tuesday.
"Rape them in the ass with a rusty iron bar until there is blood coming out, thank you for protecting us. Michal, second grade," the message concluded, in a way that was supposed to mimic a child's letter.
Israeli independent journalist Daniel Amram said in an Instagram post that soldiers indeed received the coffee bag. He later deleted the post.
Middle East Eye was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the image or the claims surrounding it.
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Before the post was taken down, it drew significant engagement, including support from some social media users.
'What an education, what a language, I like it,' one comment read.
Another stated, 'This is how I will educate my children,' receiving over a thousand likes.
A third user added, 'From a young age, every Jew should be educated to hate them,' referring to Palestinians.
אבא של מיכל מכיתה ב׳2 אני צריך לדבר איתך רגע…. pic.twitter.com/evtK4JR5a9 — Tom Nissani (@TomNissani) June 10, 2025
Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, Israeli civil society groups and schools have regularly sent care packages to soldiers, often including food, clothing, and handwritten letters from children.
These initiatives are aimed at boosting troop morale during what has become the longest war in Israel's history.
Israel's use of sexual violence
Tolerance towards sexual violence against Palestinians is not uncommon in Israel.
Last year, dozens of right-wing demonstrators broke into the notorious Israeli Sde Teiman detention facility after several guards at the facility were arrested on suspicion of raping a Palestinian detainee.
The military police accused the guards of injecting a sharp object into the Palestinian detainee's rectum, which caused him life-threatening injury.
The break-in to Sde Teiman, led by Knesset member Tzvi Succot of the Religious Zionist Party, received support from the Israeli right-wing. As of today, the trial of five guards is ongoing in a military court.
"Sde Teiman, as everyone who has been there knows it, is a sadistic torture camp. Dozens of detainees entered it alive and came out in bags," wrote a reservist soldier who was in the facility.
Since October 2023, more than 70 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli jails amid widespread torture.
'[In Israel there is] a pattern of sexual violence, including cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture'
- UN Commission of Inquiry
According to an investigation by the Israeli news outlet HaMakom, since the beginning of the war, Israeli soldiers have arrested nearly 7,000 Palestinians from Gaza.
The Palestinians, who include women, children and the elderly, were arrested without proof that they were involved in any military activity against Israel, according to HaMakom.
Since then, just over 2,500 Palestinians have been released back to the besieged enclave.
As of the end of May, 2,790 Gazans are still being held in Israel's detention facilities, 660 of them in Sde Teiman.
A UN Commission of Inquiry report published in March stated that "Israel has systematically used sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023."
The report found that in Israel there is "a pattern of sexual violence, including cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and other inhumane acts that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."
"Specific forms of sexual and gender-based violence such as forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault, de facto form part of the ISF [Israeli Security Forces] standard operating procedures towards Palestinians," the report said.
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