Were Abu Ghraib abuses learned from Israel?
Matthew Kalman San Francisco Chronicle Foreign Service Sunday, June 27, 2004 Jerusalem — Palestinians who have spent time in Israeli detention say the images of sexual abuse and humiliation from Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison are painful reminders of their own experience at the hands of Israeli interrogators. Some, like Hisham Abdel Razzaq, the Palestinian minister for prisoners, believe the similarity is more than coincidental. “I am inclined to think that the Americans copied the Israeli techniques, ” said Abdel Razzaq. “I can’t prove it in an objective manner, but the striking similarities are overwhelming.” But veterans of Israel’s Shin Bet secret service, which conducts most of the country’s anti-terrorist investigations, scoff at such charges and say sexual humiliation of the type seen in photos from Abu Ghraib is not even a useful tool in interrogating suspects. “Under questioning, a terrorist should be made to yield,” said Ami Ayalon, a former director of the Shin Bet. “Sexual ab
