ATHENS: The Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel was rocked by protests on Monday as dozens of protesters – including several far-right members of the Knesset – clashed with military police.
Waving Israeli flags and chanting “shame,” the protesters condemned the arrest and detention of nine Israel Defense Forces reservists accused of assaulting a jailed Palestinian man so severely that it resulted in his hospitalization.
As domestic political tensions continue to rise and the war in Gaza shows no signs of abating, many are wondering if the widely reported torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody will only deepen the political divide in Israel.
The protest at Sde Teiman was expected, especially given the rhetoric of Israeli lawmakers regarding the treatment of imprisoned Palestinians. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took to X on Monday to post: “Take your hands off our reservists!”
The brazen support of torture by some Israeli politicians is even more shocking. When a colleague in the Knesset asked if there was any reason to sodomize a prisoner, Likud Party MK Hanoch Mildwidsky shouted: “Yes! If he is a Nukhba (Hamas militant), everything is legitimate to do!”
Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, also condemned the arrests on X, demanding the release of the reservists – whom he called “IDF heroes” – and calling for the dismissal of those who ordered their arrest.
Videos posted on social media also showed far-right parliamentarian Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionist Party and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit entering the detention facility in Sde Teiman.
The Sde Teiman protest escalated after protesters realized the imprisoned reservists were being held at the Beit Lid military base north of Tel Aviv, where they tried to break into the detention center to release the soldiers.
Several members of the reservist unit also joined the protest in full military uniform, although their faces were covered.
Allegations of torture of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli forces have been mounting for years – even more so since the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on Wednesday alleging the killing of at least 53 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody since the war began, as well as the use of waterboarding, electric shocks and sleep deprivation.
Israel's prison service has denied all allegations and maintains that Israeli prisons do not violate prisoners' rights.
The OHCHR report added that more than 9,400 Palestinians had been detained in Israel from October to the end of June, many of whom had not been given access to a lawyer.
Since October 7, thousands of Palestinians — including doctors, patients, residents and captured soldiers — have been brought from Gaza to Israel, “usually shackled and blindfolded,” the OHCHR report said.
INSPEECH
• 53 Palestinian prisoners believed to have died in Israeli custody since 7 October.
• 9,400 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel from October to the end of June.
Source: OHCHR
Thousands more have been imprisoned in the West Bank and in Israel. “They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review,” the OHCHR added.
Testimony to the report suggested that Israel had subjected detainees to “a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and releasing dogs on detainees,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report.
Many freed Palestinians reported treatment “including severe beatings, electric shocks, being forced to remain in stressed positions for extended periods or waterboarding.” The report said prisoners had been subjected to blackmail, “burned with cigarettes and given hallucinogenic pills.”
It said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that since October 7 Israel and Palestinian armed groups had “committed gross violations and abuses … of the right to life, liberty and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.”
These included the use of “rape and other forms of sexual violence”, warning that the abuses could amount to war crimes. In addition to calling for an end to the abuses, the OHCHR called on all parties to “immediately end all forms of arbitrary detention, including the holding of hostages.”
READ MORE
• The children in Israel's prisons
• Palestinian prisoners say they were abused in Israeli prisons
• Rights advocates condemn 'systemic abuse' in Israeli prisons
• Israel does not need the death penalty – they are already executing us in the streets, Palestinians say
A summary of the report referred to a “staggering” number of detainees – including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders.
“Detainees said they were held in cage-like facilities, undressed for long periods, wearing only diapers. Their testimonies told of prolonged blindfolding, deprivation of food, sleep and water,” the summary states.
Some prisoners said that “their hands were tied and they were hung from the ceiling,” while “some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence.”
According to the Prisoners Club, a Palestinian rights watchdog, some 9,600 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including hundreds of administrative prisons where they can be held for long periods without charge.
Not all Israelis have defended the alleged actions of the arrested reservists, nor do they support the use of torture and the violation of Palestinian prisoners' human rights.
“Are you for rape? Is this part of Judaism?” Israeli human rights activist Yariv Oppenheimer responded to Belal Smotrich's post on X.
Israeli writer Hen Mazzig condemned the protests, during which he said members of the media were verbally and physically assaulted.
“Israel's investigation (of the reservists) must be allowed to continue. This protest and the politicians who encourage it do NOTHING to help Israel. It only provides more material for those who hate us,” he wrote on X on Monday.
Only a handful of Israeli government officials have condemned the protests and the storming of the detention facility, primarily Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel.
“Even when you're angry, the laws apply to everyone – don't break into IDF bases and don't break the laws of the State of Israel,” Gallant wrote on X.
“I call on the Israeli police to act immediately against violators of the law and on all elected officials to refrain from irresponsible statements that drag the IDF into the political arena,” he said in a separate post.
In a statement on Monday, Herzi Halevi, chief of the IDF General Staff, said the break-ins at IDF bases were “extremely serious and against the law.”
But despite these condemnations, Israeli security forces at IDF military bases were reportedly apathetic towards the protesters, and there have been no reports of arrests or arrests of those involved.
The day after the protests saw a raucous meeting in the Knesset after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the mobs that broke into IDF bases.
Despite attempts by both right-wing activists and lawmakers to have the arrested reservists released, eight of the original 10 reservists had their detentions extended this morning and will remain in custody until Sunday, according to the IDF.
The suspects can be charged with, among other things, aggravated sodomy, assault and conduct unbecoming of a soldier.
