“For Sale”: A Horrifying Video of Palestinian Children

Today, I was stunned by a shocking video reportedly showing an Israeli soldier displaying Palestinian children who were cuffed and blindfolded, accompanied by the caption: “For sale: 2 for 100, 3 for 75 shekels.”

The video was reported by Al-Quds Al-Arabi in June 2026, which described the children as detained and apparently being held at an Israeli concentration camp. 

For readers unfamiliar with the Israeli currency, 100 Israeli shekels is roughly $33 in U.S. currency. But the monetary value is almost beside the point. The disturbing message conveyed by the caption is the suggestion that human beings—children, no less—can be reduced to commodities with a price tag.

Whether the caption was intended as a sick joke, an attempt to humiliate the children, or something more sinister, the dehumanization depicted in the video is horrifying. No child should ever be treated this way. No child should be cuffed, blindfolded and displayed for someone’s amusement.

And that raises a much larger question: Where is the accountability?

If the person responsible is indeed an IDF soldier, the conduct depicted in the video deserves a serious investigation and appropriate accountability. It should not be dismissed as a joke or written off as the behavior of one individual simply because confronting it is uncomfortable.

There have been numerous reports and allegations concerning the treatment of Palestinians during the conflict, including allegations involving killings, torture, sexual violence, mistreatment of detainees and other abuses. Such allegations should be investigated thoroughly, and where credible evidence establishes wrongdoing, those responsible should be held accountable—regardless of their rank, uniform or nationality.

At the same time, we should be careful not to allow the actions of individuals to become an excuse for condemning an entire people or an entire nationality. Accountability means identifying those responsible and holding them responsible.

But watching children—cuffed, blindfolded and apparently being mocked as though they were merchandise—is nauseating, to say the least.

Perhaps what disturbs me most is not only what the video appears to show, but what it says about the human capacity to become desensitized to the suffering of others.

These are children, for God’s sake!

They are not soldiers. They are not targets. They are not commodities. And they should never be entertainment.

Whatever our political views, whatever side of the conflict we support, surely, we can agree on one basic principle: children should never be dehumanized, humiliated or treated as objects.

So, I have to ask: What has happened to our sense of humanity when the suffering and humiliation of children can be turned into entertainment?

And if a video like this does not demand accountability, what will?

Mahmoud El-Yousseph is a Palestinian freelance writer and retired U.S. Air Force veteran. He writes about U.S. foreign policy, Middle Eastern affairs and justice