Riots Erupt At Israeli Military Bases After IDF Reservists Arrested For Sex Abuse Of Prisoner

As the tug-of-war between Israeli and Hamas representatives are engaged in during peace talks has reached another stalemate, new accusations of brutality committed by the IDF threaten the progress of those negotiations. However, these accusations have not been the product of Hamas' negotiation tactics. Instead they have arisen out of Israel as its military police has taken action against its own servicemen. Reports indicate that Israeli Military Police have detained nine IDF reservists on suspicion of severe sexual abuse against a Palestinian prisoner in their custody. The reservists are accused of sexually abusing the Palestinian prisoner so severely that injuries he sustained to his rectum have left him unable to walk. Those injuries required the prisoner to be transferred from Sde Teiman in the Negev Desert to a hospital in Beersheba, which is located in southern Israel.

The reservists were detained after IMP raided the Sde Teiman Detention Camp. The facility has become infamous as an epicenter for abuse of prisoners, drawing comparisons to Guantanamo Bay. The Director of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, revealed that he and the 40 prisoners released from Sde Teiman in early July were subjected to systematic abuse from military personnel and even medical staff. The degree of abuse was so severe that Abu Salmiya alleged it led to amputations and even the deaths of prisoners victimized at the detention center. “The doctor there beats the detainees, and the nurse beats the detainees. This is in violation of all international laws,” he said. “They amputated the feet of several prisoners, those who are suffering from diabetes symptoms due to the lack of medical treatment for them.”

Given the scale of international law broken by Israel throughout its campaign in Gaza without any semblance of accountability imposed by the international community, treatment of prisoners at detention centers like Sde Teiman has continued to deteriorate. That continued wanton abandonment of consideration of international law culminated in the IMP's raid and detention of IDF personnel for their alleged abuses. What ensued following their arrest was a scene that embodies the cultural climate that has nurtured the behavior they're accused of.

When reports emerged of the IMP detaining the perpetrators accused of the sexual abuse, a firestorm broke out as protesters enveloped Sde Teiman along with the Beit Lid military base in central Israel where the accused reservists were taken for questioning. Counter-intuitively, these were not Arab or pro-Gazans sympathizers. Instead, the protesters were supporters of Israel's far-right political factions. Among the 200 protesters were other members of the IMP, adorned in their official IDF attire bearing the Force 100 badge designated to special forces in the provost who are ironically tasked with suppressing uprisings at prisons and detention centers. Force 100 had ceased operations in 2006 before being re-established at the beginning of the war in Gaza in order to guard detainees at Sde Teiman.

Knesset member Tally Gotliv was also among the protesters. Gotliv , a member of Likud, was elected to the 25th Knesset as one of 8 women to hold a seat in the legislature. Before her political career, Gotliv worked for the state attorney's office in the Tel Aviv district representing defendants facing sex crimes charges. During her tenure, a complaint was filed against her by the Association Of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel for social media posts she made criticizing the testimony of a rape victim. Although no formal disciplinary action arose from the complaint, the stain it left on her legal career became apparent when she came in last place in the election for chair of the Israel Bar Association in 2016 after declaring her candidacy as the first woman to run for the office.

Gotliv was joined by other Knesset members from Israel's Religious Zionist and Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) parties. Each of those parties is known for their vociferous anti-Arab and ultra-nationalist right wing political ideology which has become the bedrock of Israel's political climate since Benjamin Netanyahu was elected to his sixth term as Prime Minister Of Israel.

Gotliv's checkered past regarding her treatment of victims of sex crimes was emblematic of the attitude of protesters who took to the base in defiance of the IMP's detention of the IDF personnel accused of sex abuse at Sde Teiman. Emboldened by their indignant spirit, protesters turned to violence as the demonstration became an all-out riot. Rioters began to yell "We will not abandon our friends, certainly not for terrorists." before going on to attack journalists on-site covering the story. Ilana Curiel was on Israeli journalist who was attacked by rioters. Curiel recounted how the rioters shoved and spit on her as they simultaneously berated her by calling her a slut, Arab's whore and a traitor. Journalists from Israel's public broadcasting network and other private media networks were also attacked.

As rioters broke into the bases, Israeli police arrived at each facility in order to de-escalate the situation. Rioters were not arrested but simply escorted outside of the gates they broke through where they were allowed to continue to protest. Despite the crimes committed by rioters, Prime Minister Netanyahu did little to assuage the risk they presented to the security of the facilities. Netanyahu did little to encourage law enforcement to make arrests, simply stating that he strongly condemned the actions of the rioters while calling upon the to calm themselves.

While other members of Netayahu's administration echoed the prime minister's vapid condemnation of the riot, they used their opportunity to do so in order to strongly express their support for the detained IDF reservists accused of severe sexual abuse. Justice Minister Yariv Levin stated that their arrest was "impossible to accept." His position was echoed by controversial far-right National Security Minister and leader of Otzma Yehudit Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose ministry controls the Israeli police and prison service. The consummate warhawk Jewish supremacist Ben-Gvir became the least surprising Israeli politician to condemn the soldiers' detention, calling it "nothing less than shameful."

While the statements of the liked of Levin and Ben-Gvir were little more than political candor, the most poignant response to the detention of the IDF personnel came from Yuli Edelstein, Head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Edelstein announced his intention to hold an emergency hearing to address the conduct of the IMP. "I will not allow scenes such as those seen today at the Sde Teiman base. A situation where masked military police raid an IDF base is unacceptable to me and I will not allow it to happen again," he said, concluding, "our soldiers are not criminals, and this despicable pursuit of our fighters is not acceptable."

Edelstein's obdurate response to the detention of IDF personnel follows testimony obtained by Israeli news outlet Haaretz, which reports that the detained reservists had been involved in several violent incidents in the months leading up to their arrests. A soldier at Sde Teiman described how members of the unit accused of the barbarous sexual would constantly indulge themselves in violent attack against prisoners. "[O]n one occasion they told everyone to lie down on the floor and immediately threw a stun grenade in the middle of the cell, then kicked them violently." one of the soldiers stated.

Despite rank-and-file IDF personnel giving credence to the accusations levied against their compatriots, Israeli officials remain impenitent in the face of another controversy that highlights how human rights violations and breaches of international law have not just become commonplace since the campaign in Gaza has unfolded, they have practically become mandated.