Israelis storm Sde Teiman prison to defend detained soldiers' 'right to torture' Palestinians, bringing country to brink of 'civil war'

Monday's arrest of nine Israeli reservist soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility over the shocking abuse of a Palestinian detainee has sparked protests by far-right lawmakers and activists who believe soldiers have a right to abuse Palestinian prisoners of war.

Far-right activists stormed the Sde Teiman detention facility and the Beit Lid army base which held the nine before court hearings set for Tuesday with Israeli journalists likening the incident to the 6 January insurrection in Washington and drawing comparisons of a civil war.

Torture and arrests

The nine reservists stationed at Sde Teiman were arrested by military police officers after an investigation was launched into their abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the facility.

The allegations reported in Israeli press include both assaulting and raping the detainee, who as a result was hospitalised with severe injuries to his anus and is unable to walk. 

The incident is the latest in a series of mounting allegations of systematic abuse at the facility, reported by The New Arab, CNN and New York Times for the past several months prompting Israel's high court to demand reports on conditions at the facility following a lawsuit in May.

At least 36 detainees have died in the facility, where thousands of Palestinian detainees from Gaza have passed through, since 7 October.

Many allege systematic torture and rape at the facility, as well as inhumane conditions. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which has filed a lawsuit against the government over the conditions, has said that such violations amount to war crimes.

Palestinian Lawyer Khaled Mahajneh, who visited the facility to see journalist Mohammed Arab, an employee at The New Arab's siter network Al-Araby TV, said that the site was "unlike anything I've ever seen or heard before."

The head of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, Qadura Fares, called the ongoing military investigation into the nine a "farce", and called for a UN investigation instead.

The far-right mobilize

As reports of the arrests became known an argument erupted in an Israeli Knesset committee hearing between Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky and Ta'al MK Ahmed Tibi over the legitimacy of the use of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees.

Milwidsky said that "If he is a Nukhba [a synonym for Hamas fighter] everything is legitimate to do". Around 1,200 Palestinians who had been held in the facility have been released after being found to be civilians.

The arrest of the soldiers also sparked outcry among wider sections Israel's far-right, including prominent cabinet ministers.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of Jewish Power called the arrests "nothing less than shameful," while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist party also condemned the arrests.

Far-right protesters subsequently stormed the Sde Teiman detention centre along with far-right lawmakers.

This includes, Likud MK Tally Gotliv, Religious Zionist MK Zvi Succot, and Jewish Power MK Limor Son Har-Melech.

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, member of Ben-Gvir's party Jewish Power, was seen wondering through the facility with protesters.

Other cabinet members also condemned the arrests and called on the military to protect, rather than prosecute soldiers.

On Monday night protesters went on to storm the Beit Lid army base where the nine are being held. Some of the protesters include what appeared to be armed masked soldiers, some of whom were wearing the Force 100 logo, a unit guarding Sde Teiman, as well as civilians and far-right lawmakers.

Protesters were subsequently dispersed by police, although the army has been forced to redeploy troops from the West Bank to protect the base against further demonstrations.

Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi slammed the break-ins, accusing the demonstrators of harming the army, and Israel's war effort.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also condemned the protests, calling on the Israeli police to act and for lawmakers from making "irresponsible statements".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by Haaretz as saying he "strongly condemns the break-in".

Opposition leader Yair Lapid used harsher language however, arguing: "This is not a riot; this is an attempted coup by an armed militia against a weak prime minister who is unable to take control of his government."

A manifestation of a wider split in Israel

In the months leading up to the incident, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe wrote that one of the first indicators of what he called was "the collapse of zoinism" was the fracturing of Israeli Jewish society between two camps, the secular and liberal "State of Israel" camp, and the "State of Judea" camp that developed from the religious settler community in the West Bank.

The storming of the bases and the far-right mobilization in defence of the nine soldiers against the military prosecution is another manifestation of these deep divisions within Israel that have only been widening since the start of Netanyahu’s coalition government.

This includes events before the war, such as Netanyahu's controversial judicial overhaul that sparked weekly nationwide demonstrations and even saw the brief firing of Gallant over his comments against it.

However, since the start of Israel's war on Gaza on 7 October, the Israeli military and the far-right have increasingly been in crosshairs over the prosecution of the war.

In February Israeli media reported that Halevi and Ben-Gvir entered into a "screaming match" after the Israeli military and police cracked down on protesters blocking aid into Gaza.

Both have also got into sparred over settler violence in the Israeli occupied West Bank.

The incident on Monday sparked further fears from Israeli commentators and journalists about the widening divide in the state of Israel.

Executive Director of +972 Magazine Haggai Matar observed of Monday's incidents: "This is the closest I've seen to a civil war".

Likewise, Moav Vardi, the Chief International Correspondent of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation likened the incident to the 6 January uprising in Washington.

Israeli professor Idan Landau, whilst saying Israel was not on the brink of civil war, said described the incident as being part of "a rapid disintegration of the relics of Israeli democracy," adding that "we will literally be squashed without external help."

Mairav Zonszein, Senior Israel Analyst at the International Crisis Group, echoed Landau's comments, saying "Israel is not on [the] brink of civil war but s*** is hitting the fan between [the] military and political leadership, between liberals and religious fundamentalists and no one knows where it's heading." 

In an editorial, Israeli newspaper Haaretz accused Netanyahu of losing control over the far-right, waring that "If they [the far-right] are not stopped, they will dismantle the state for good."