Amnesty: Meals In Israeli Jails Contain Gluten

Jewish prisoners, in discriminatory fashion, are provided with mostly grain-free meals for a week or so every spring.

By Magister, via Wikimedia Commons

New York, February 27 – A leading organization advocating for political rights and against mistreatment of political detainees has criticized Israel for what it calls a glaring lack of respect for the humanity of Palestinian prisoners, as demonstrated by the presence of gluten in prison food.

Amnesty International released a harsh critique of the practice in Israeli civilian and military detention facilities, focusing on the nutritional and dietary aspects of the treatment in this week’s edition of exclusive focus on Israel. After spending the previous week noting the health hazards of sodium to Palestinian prisoners predisposed to heart disease, and the week before that denouncing the Prison Service and IDF for failing to offer multiple varieties of toothpaste, the organization published its report on what it termed the “appalling disregard for the long-term health of Palestinian prisoners” as evident in the carelessness with which gluten is included in prison cuisine.

“Every single person born before the twentieth century who ate gluten has died,” the report observed. “Yet Israel continues to serve food to Palestinian prisoners that contains this chemical. Our data indicate that this behavior has remained constant throughout the existence of the brutal Israeli incarceration system, even as evidence emerged of the dangers of gluten.”

Amnesty called on the international community to take measures against the Jewish State for its refusal to eliminate gluten from Palestinian prisoners’ diets. “We know they are capable of it, since Jewish prisoners, in discriminatory fashion, are provided with mostly grain-free meals for a week or so every spring,” the report continued. “We can only attribute the blatant bias in the distribution of these meals to malice.”

The organization also relayed complaints by Palestinian prisoners that Israel was not allowing inmates to receive home-baked cakes from their relatives, with the pretext that the baked goods might conceal contraband, weapons, or means of escape. “With the alleged incident of inmates stabbing a prison guard last month, Israel has found a new excuse to deprive these men of their right to receive delicious wheat-based cakes sent by their loving families,” the report added. “It amounts to collective punishment for the rest of those in custody to suffer further violations of privacy and dignity because of the allegations against a few of them.” Amnesty also called for metal detectors and imaging equipment to be removed from the screening process for such gifts, as those amount to a violation of the families’ right to keep the ingredients and contents of their cakes private.

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