Far-right protesters storm two Israeli army bases over soldiers' arrests

Protesters and far-right lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition stormed two army bases on Monday as tensions soared in Israel over the arrests of soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian prisoner.

In a statement, Netanyahu called for calm and condemned the demonstrators for breaking into Sde Teiman, a desert base in southern Israel. Israel’s defense minister and army chief of staff also spoke out against the march on military sites. The notion of Jewish Israeli demonstrators targeting a military site  - particularly during wartime - is a striking development because the army has long been one of Israel’s most trusted institutions.

The protests were sparked by the arrests of soldiers at Sde Teiman, where suspected Hamas fighters who carried out the Oct. 7 attacks are being held. Israel’s military police said they raided Sde Teiman following allegations an inmate was subject to “serious abuse.” Later in the evening, the riots spread to Beit Lid, where the soldiers were being detained, according to police.

The Israel police said they dispersed the demonstrators at the second military base within minutes. There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries. 

Sde Teiman, where Palestinians captured during the almost 10-month military campaign in Gaza are also held, has been the subject of Supreme Court challenges by human-rights watchdogs alleging intolerable conditions. Those claims have failed to attract much sympathy in Israel, where outrage over the Oct. 7 atrocities by Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US, remain high.  

Local media reported that several army reservists deployed as wardens at Sde Teiman were arrested. TV showed what appeared to be military policemen, some wearing masks to conceal their faces, leading away a soldier.

The Israel Defense Forces said Israeli civilians tried to break into Sde Teiman in an apparent protest against the arrests. Their actions are “extremely serious and against the law,” chief of staff Herzi Halevi said in a statement.

The military didn’t immediately confirm any arrests, saying only that its judge advocate-general had ordered an investigation into the suspected abuse of a detainee. 

“Take your hands off the reservists!” Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right minister for national security, said on X, as several members of his faction who had pledged to drive to Sde Teiman to prevent arrests. Ben Gvir, the head of the nationalist Jewish Power party, is part of Netanyahu’s coalition that allows him to hold a ruling majority.  

Yuli Edelstein, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and head of parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said he would summon the judge advocate-general and military police chief for a hearing before the forum. 

“Our soldiers are not criminals,” Edelstein said in a statement.

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