ATHENS: Protests rocked the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel on Monday, as dozens of protesters – including several far-right Knesset members – clashed with military police.
Demonstrators waving Israeli flags and chanting “shame” condemned the arrest and detention of nine Israel Defense Forces reservists accused of subjecting a detained Palestinian to such gross abuse that it led to his hospitalization.
As domestic political tensions continue to rise and the war in Gaza shows no signs of stopping, many are questioning whether the widely reported torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody will only deepen the political rift in Israel.
The protest in Sde Teiman was expected, especially given the rhetoric of Israeli lawmakers regarding the treatment of detained Palestinians. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took to X on Monday to write: “Keep your hands off our reservists!”
The brazen approval of torture by some Israeli politicians is even more shocking. When asked by a Knesset colleague if there was any justification for sodomizing a detainee, Likud Party lawmaker Hanoch Mildwidsky shouted, “Yes! If he is a Nukhba (Hamas fighter), it is legitimate to do everything!
Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, also condemned the arrests at X, demanding the release of the reservists — whom he called “heroes of the IDF” — and calling for the firing of those who ordered their arrests.
Videos posted on social media also show far-right MP Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionist Party and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit entering the Sde Teiman detention facility.
The Sde Teiman protest escalated after protesters realized the detained 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 reserve unit in full military uniform joined the protest, 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 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on Wednesday citing the deaths of at least 53 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody since the start of the war, as well as the use of waterboarding, electrocution and sleep deprivation.
The Israeli Prison Service has denied all the allegations and has maintained that Israeli prisons do not violate prisoners' rights.
The OHCHR report added that between October and the end of June, more than 9,400 Palestinians were detained in Israel, many of whom were denied access to a lawyer.
Since October 7, thousands of Palestinians — including health workers, patients, residents and captured fighters — have been taken from Gaza to Israel, “usually handcuffed and blindfolded,” the OHCHR report said.
INNUMBERS
• 53 Palestinian detainees have reportedly died in Israeli custody since 7 October.
• 9,400 Palestinians detained in Israel from October to the end of June.
Source: OHCHR
Thousands more were detained in the West Bank and Israel. “They were generally held incommunicado without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review,” the OHCHR added.
Testimony for the report indicated that Israel subjected prisoners to “a series of appalling acts such as waterboarding and unleashing dogs on detainees,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report.
Many released Palestinians reported treatment “including severe beatings, electrocution, being forced to remain in stressful positions for extended periods of time, or waterboarding”. The report said the detainees were 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 rights to life, liberty and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment”.
These included the use of “rape and other forms of sexual violence”, which warned that the abuses could amount to war crimes. In addition to calling for an end to abuses, the OHCHR called on all parties to “immediately end all forms of arbitrary detention, including hostage-taking.”
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The report's summary referred to the “staggering” number of detainees – including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders.
“Detainees said they were kept in cage-like facilities, undressed for long periods of time and wearing only diapers. Their testimonies told about long-term blindfolding, lack of food, sleep and water,” the summary reads.
Some detainees said they “had their hands tied and were suspended 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 in administrative detention, where they can be held for long periods of time without charge.
Not all Israelis have defended the alleged actions of the arrested reservists, nor do they support the use of torture and human rights violations against Palestinian detainees.
“Are you pro-rape? Is it 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.
“The Israeli investigation (of the midfielders) must be allowed to continue. This protest and the politicians who support it are doing 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 condemned the protests and the attack on the detention facility, among them Chief Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel.
“Even if you're angry, laws apply to everyone – don't break into IDF bases and break the laws of the State of Israel,” Gallant wrote on X.
“I call on the Israeli police to take immediate action against lawbreakers and 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, the IDF chief of staff, said the break-ins into IDF bases were “extremely serious and illegal.”
However, despite these condemnations, Israeli security forces at IDF military bases were reportedly apathetic towards the protesters, and no detentions or arrests of those involved were reported.
A day after the protests, there was a stormy meeting in the Knesset after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned a mob that broke into IDF bases.
Despite attempts by right-wing activists and lawmakers to release the arrested reservists, eight of the original 10 reservists were extended this morning and will remain in custody until Sunday, according to the IDF.
The suspects may face charges of sodomy, assault and battery, among other charges.
