Israeli Officials Join Protests Against Arrest of Soldiers Involved in Detainee Gang-Rape
Numerous protestors, some of them were members of the Israeli Knesset associated with the extreme right-wing organization, clashed with the military police after the arrest of nine soldiers on charges of abusing a Palestinian detainee. It happened in the Sde Teiman detention center in the south of the state of Israel, which caused a fairly large riot.
Earlier this week on Monday, people invaded the compounds showing Israeli flags and kept shouting “shame” to defend the soldiers. I believe that the soldiers were only doing their job; they had a common defense, and it was just another country that needed to be protected. Newspaper stories showed that several Israeli civilians came to help the soldiers, too, were reported. There were some attempts of the protesters to storm the facility; one of the soldiers stated to Haaretz that pepper spray was used against the military police who wanted to arrest the soldiers.
The Israeli military said that, about the alleged “serious mistreatment” of a detainee at Sde Teiman, nine soldiers were arrested for interrogation. This center was set up to hold Palestinians apprehended in the Strip after the beginning of the Israeli operation in the area on October 7. The military has not given further information but said that the head of its legal office has launched an investigation. Allegations from Israeli media information showed that a Palestinian prisoner was taken to the hospital with critical injuries, and he could not even walk.
Brigadier General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military advocate general of Israel, instituted it by which the soldiers were detained, as Force 100, the unit in charge of Sde Teiman’s security.
Several personalities have opposed the protests, including Israel’s army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi. Halevi said that Miles, capable of disrupting the order that was apparent on a military base, is counted as having severe behavior that is not tolerable at all. “We are in a war, and such actions threaten the state’s security. Point blank, the actions carried out were in bad taste, and I strongly condemn this incident; we are, however, working to try and bring order at the base”.
Apart from that, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, urged to “stop any rabble-rousing immediately and condemned the invasion of the site. His counterpart in the Defense Ministry, Yoav Gallant, also expressed similar sentiments when he called for other agencies to allow those with the mandate to conduct the probe.
However, local far-right politicians, including ministers, have stood for the soldiers and called on the military to stop the probe. Bezalel Smotrich, who is the finance minister, uploaded a video message on X (formerly Twitter) to the military advocate general demanding that he stop harassing Israel’s “heroic warriors.” Otzma Yehudit party, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is the National Security Minister, wanted soldiers detained in Sde Teiman.
Yuli Edelstein Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said that there will be an urgent briefing of the arrests; the man added, “Our soldiers are not criminals, and this vile pursuit of our soldiers is something I find intolerable.
Nevertheless, the Israeli non-governmental organization, ‘Breaking the Silence,’ criticized the protesters for supporting “unimaginably brutal abuse on Palestinians.” Established by veterans, the organization explained that Palestinian prisoners endure deaths, severe restrictions, and cases of torture and sexual abuse.
Malicious treatment of prisoners was reported by Palestinians and human rights organizations even before the aggression in Gaza. In recent times, a Palestinian lawyer Guinness reported several rapes and tortures of detainees in the Sde Teiman facility. According to a report that The Associated Press and works of other human rights organizations have conducted, Sde Teiman, the largest detention facility in the country, can be described as extremely dismal.
As a result of such cases of abuse, the United States of America Department of State has recently started investigating claims of torture of Palestinian detainees by the Israelis. Israeli human rights organizations such as the ACRI have accused the state of severe violations of detainee rights at the Sde Teiman facility, which Israel has declared it will shut down.
Amnesty International also requested that Israel stop detaining the Palestinians from Gaza without trial and prevent what the organization claims is regular torture in Israeli jails. The organization established that Palestinians, including children, were arrested and denied communication with their families for days or months.
Since the start of Israel’s operation in Gaza, close to twelve hundred and nine thousand Palestinians have been detained, which fits into the overall scheme of arrests and reported maltreatment.
