Description

Photos:
Clashes between protesters and soldiers in Beit Lid army base, on Monday evening. Published by Haaretz

Likud MK Tally Gotliv protesting outside the Beit Lid army base, on Monday. Credit: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv Published by Haaretz

Protest against the detention of the soldiers outside the Beit Lid army base, on Monday. Credit: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv. Published by Haaretz
____

Soldiers attempted to stop dozens of protesters who stormed into the base and entered the military court building inside, as the demonstrators called them 'traitors'

by Bar Peleg and Eden Solomon
Jul 29, 2024 9:43 pm IDT

About 200 people protested outside the Beit Lid army base in central Israel on Monday evening, demanding the release of nine reservists who are held for questioning there after being detained earlier on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility.

The protesters stormed into the base, entering the military court building inside with soldiers attempting to stop them. After leaving the court, they stormed the detention facility in the base. The demonstrators called the soldiers "traitors."

After being evacuated from the base, the protesters continued demonstrating outside. Border Police officers who were present did not make any arrests, and the base's public address system called on the base's command staff to arrive at the scene of the clashes.

At the same time, some 20 people protested outside the home of Military Advocate General, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi in the city of Ramat Hasharon. Demonstrators held up Israeli flags and called the advocate general a "traitor." Police blocked access to her house.

After leaving the base, the protesters blocked buses carrying paratroopers who returned from fighting in the Gaza Strip from entering the base through the main gate. The soldiers had to get off the buses and walk into the base on foot.

Among the demonstrators were armed and masked soldiers, some of them wearing the Force 100 logo on their uniforms, a unit that was re-established at the beginning of the war and is believed to have been tasked with guarding the detainees at Sde Teiman.

Among the soldiers who were detained is an officer with the rank of Major, a commander of Force 100. The soldiers are suspected of abuse under aggravating circumstances, of committing an act of sodomy under the circumstances of rape, and violation of authority and inappropriate behavior. According to Israel's Penal Code, unlike women, men who are raped legally undergo an "act of sodomy." The offense of sodomy is defined as an offense "lawfully punishable as rape," but is not defined by law as rape.

Likud MK Tally Gotliv and Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer are also present at the scene. During the protest outside the base, Kroizer threatened Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, saying: "Watch out, take your hands off our combat soldiers."

Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech said at the protest: "The military advocate general is a criminal. The people of Israel will fight against enemies from outside and enemies from within."

A few protesters attempted to enter the base by scaling the fence, and some are blocking the entrance to the base without interference from the forces on the scene.

The police are at the scene. One civilian who tried to enter the base was arrested.

Masked men got on a truck that got stuck at the entrance to the base, and one of them called out to the protesters: "We will not abandon our friends – certainly not for terrorists."

The protester who was arrested was released and addressed the other demonstrators using a megaphone: "I broke in here and entered, I was not afraid. I wrote to the parents of my students that today I will not teach, not because I am going to a demonstration, but because I am going to release soldiers. I am not afraid of being arrested, and I am not afraid that they will take my weapons. We will break in now without violence."

Some of the protesters shouted at the Kan public broadcaster news crew and threw objects at them, leading the reporters to leave the area.

Following the news that demonstrators broke into the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid bases, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: "Break-ins of civilians into IDF bases is a serious incident which seriously harms Israeli democracy and plays into the hands of our enemy during war."

He continued, "I have now spoken with the chief of staff and stated that the IDF has full backing from me as the minister of defense to take measures and act immediately to prevent the unauthorized entry of civilians into IDF bases. I call on the Israel Police to act immediately against the violators of the law and on all elected officials to refrain from irresponsible statements that drag the IDF into the political arena."

Earlier on Monday, Military Police officers raided the Sde Teiman detention center and detained several reservists on suspicion of severely abusing a Palestinian detainee. Following reports of the detentions, dozens of protesters, including Knesset members, broke into the base and remained there for some hours in protest.

Honenu, an Israeli nonprofit organization that provides legal aid to Jewish terror suspects, represents four of the suspects. The military defense said it is representing the other six soldiers.

"These are reservists, all of them normal citizens with families, who performed their complex duty faithfully while continuously risking their lives. We are convinced that it will become clear in a factual and professional investigation that there is no basis for suspicion against them," the defense said.

According to a security source, the Palestinian detainee in question was taken to a hospital with severe injuries to an intimate body part – injuries that left him unable to walk.

The IDF said, "Following suspicion of serious abuse of a detainee who was held at the Sde Teiman detention facility, an investigation by the military police was opened by order of the military attorney's office."

Orit Sulitzeanu, Executive Director of The Association of Rape Crises Centers in Israel, said she was "shocked" to hear of the suspicions against the detained soldiers at Sde Teiman. "There will never be any circumstances that would justify the use of this sickening practice, not even against the worst of our enemies. Sexual harm and sexual abuse are serious crimes and we must not remain silent when they happen."

Features