Israeli militants waged a violent riot on Monday, breaking into multiple facilities to support nine Israeli soldiers who were slated to appear in a military court for a hearing over allegations that they had raped a Palestinian man who they were imprisoning at a notorious Israeli torture camp.
The groups of protesters pushed up against soldiers as they broke into the Sde Teiman camp, where many Palestinians abducted from Gaza have been tortured in recent months, and a military court in a base where the accused soldiers were being held. The Associated Press reported that “several hundred” protesters broke into Sde Teiman, with some wielding megaphones and calling for the reservists to be released.
Videos from the scene at Sde Teiman showed protesters breaking open gates to storm into the camp, many brandishing Israeli flags. Some of the protesters were reportedly armed, and groups at both Sde Teiman and the military court clashed with soldiers and chanted “shame” as they rioted.
The detained soldiers have reportedly been charged with the sexual abuse of a Palestinian man who suffered injuries to his anus so severe that he was unable to walk, Axios reported, citing Israeli media. Israeli media have reported that the man was hospitalized as a result of the alleged abuse.
Members of the Israeli government have also defended the soldiers, claiming it is wrong for the government to charge the reservists. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemned the arrests, calling the soldiers accused of rape “heroic warriors” who should be released.
In fact, some lawmakers in the most extremist pockets of Israel’s government were reportedly at the protest at the military court, which dispersed after the group found out that the arrested reservist soldiers were no longer being held there.
The clashes with police, who are under the administration of Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most outspoken extremists in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, were relatively tame, Axios reported. Though videos showed the protesters clearly breaking into the facilities, no arrests were made.
In the Israeli Knesset on Monday, meanwhile, lawmakers debated whether or not sexual abuse was a legitimate tactic for Israeli soldiers. (International law considers sexual violence by soldiers to be a war crime.) One lawmaker in Netanyahu’s party, Hanoch Milwidsky, claimed that any treatment of a Hamas militant is legitimate. Reports have not identified the victim, though many reports have found that Israeli forces consider any Palestinian man or boy to be a member of Hamas.
“If he is Nukhba, everything is legitimate to do. Everything,” Milwidsky said.
The charges line up with numerous findings about the abominable conditions that Israeli forces are perpetuating at Sde Teiman and other prison camps; human rights advocates and Palestinians who have survived the camp have likened Sde Teiman to Guantánamo for the extreme abuses faced by Palestinians there — who have been abducted by Israeli forces and imprisoned without charges.
At least 35 Palestinians have died in Sde Teiman as a result of abuses that appear to be the official policy of those running the camp. Prisoners and investigations have reported that Israeli soldiers there deprive Palestinians of necessary medical care while also beating and torturing them, siccing dogs on them, and depriving them of food. Human rights groups have said that every prisoner comes out having shed tens of pounds due to the deprivation.
Sexual violence is particularly prevalent in these Israeli torture camps, reports have found. The UN recently reported that many people, men and women, have said that they were sexually abused by the Israeli soldiers who were imprisoning them. These reports include molestation, rape, and physical abuse to sexual parts — including beating of and putting pepper on genitals, some survivors said. One survivor reported Israeli soldiers making him sit on an electrical probe, causing burns to his anus.
Human Rights Watch also recently found that Israeli soldiers imprison children in their camps, again without charges. In some cases, Israeli soldiers strip the children — like other Palestinians held prisoner — and take pictures of them naked or near-naked, then post them on social media to mock them.
YOUR HELP urgently NEEDED
We missed our July fundraiser goal and need to keep fundraising to make up the difference.
The next few months are going to be pivotal and your tax-deductible donation will go far in helping us do our work.
Please do what you can today.