Sde Teiman Chaos Depicts Disintegration of IOF Chain of Command
Dozens of Israeli settlers have stormed a military base and breached the military court to forcibly release the IOF soldiers accused of brutal acts of sexual violence against Palestinians.
Israel has been engrossed in a massive domestic disturbance as Monday saw protesters bursting into a concentration camp where Palestinians are held, as well as another base that houses the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) military court.
The incident follows a dramatic escalation as dozens of settlers from far-right settler groups, some masked and armed, joined by other political activists, breached an Israeli military base on Monday evening. The base was the site where Israeli occupation soldiers, detained for severe moral violations and the extreme torture of a Palestinian detainee, were being questioned.
The occupation’s military officials were compelled to shift their emphasis away from planning for a hypothetical strike against Hezbollah, which may snowball into an all-out war on another front, and toward defending their base.
The Israeli army confirmed that it has halted a round of “critical security discussions regarding escalation in the North,” describing the attack on the military base in Beit Lid as a “serious incident constituting a criminal offense and a threat to Israel’s security, and the war effort.”
Zionist MP Hanoch Milwidsky from Netanyahu’s Likud party says it is legitimate to rape Palestinian prisoners.
The West endorses rape. pic.twitter.com/1m2mzZJ6cJ
— Seyed Mohammad Marandi (@s_m_marandi) July 30, 2024
Reports confirm that one Palestinian detainee was subjected to gang rape by 9 or 10 Israeli soldiers and endured severe torture, resulting in paralysis and current hospitalization. According to an Israeli Army Radio report, the abuse occurred approximately three weeks ago at the Sde Teiman detention facility.
Haaretz claimed that more than 30 detainees have died at the institution since October 7. Following widespread condemnation, the IOF began closing the site in recent weeks, and human rights organizations have petitioned the occupation’s Supreme Court for a myriad of abuses at the facility.
Everyone from Netanyahu’s son, Yair, to Israel’s Economy Minister Nir Barkat, to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, has chimed in to defend the right of soldiers to rape Palestinian prisoners. What was intended as a legal charade to demonstrate to the ICC that Israel could hold its… https://t.co/4eVV7AsA09
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 30, 2024
Footage showed dozens of Israeli settlers breaching the military court building to forcibly release the charged Israeli soldiers, despite the court having significantly reduced their sentences due to pressure from right-wing figures, particularly ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who sought to prevent punishment despite the convictions.
מפגיני הימין מנסים לפרוץ את הכלא כדי לשחרר את העצורים. איפה הצבא? איפה המשטרה? איפה השב״כ? pic.twitter.com/FuBrHmLDp1
— Yoav Ribak (@YoavRibak) July 29, 2024
The footage also captured a heated discussion between soldiers and military police investigators at the Sde Teiman concentration camp.
Sde Teiman, a military installation in southern occupied Palestine, has gained notoriety as a site likened to a “New Guantanamo”, where the Israeli army reportedly engages in the torture and killing of Palestinian civilians of all ages, including children, who have been abducted from various areas of the Gaza Strip since October 7.
Reports of abuse at Sde Teiman have already emerged in global media, following an outcry from local and international rights groups about the horrific conditions there.
Political and military rift deepens over assessment of harrowing incident
The chaotic scenes of mass break-ins, driven by several members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition—some of whom were involved in the forcible entries—led to clashes and intensified the existing divisions within “Israel’s” political and military establishments. This indicates how much Israeli extremists have been emboldened under Netanyahu’s government, Axios reported.
The raging chaos also depicted the disintegration of the IOF chain of command and the military’s internal law and order, it added.
Meanwhile, the episodes are expected to exacerbate Israeli society’s divisions, weaken its military during its war on Gaza, and weaken it even further as it prepares to face the Lebanese Resistance.
The remaining cabinet ministers except for Yoav Gallant and Moshe Arbel either backed the reservists, blasted the IOF attorney general, or remained silent.
IOF Chief Herzi Halevi condemned the riots outside the Sde Teiman base, stating they undermined “the army, Israel’s security, and the war effort.”
Ben-Gvir audaciously stated that it was “shameful” for “Israel” to arrest “our best heroes,” while Smotrich said that IOF soldiers “deserve respect” and must not be treated as “criminals”.
Beginning of the end for ‘Israel’
The events in the Sde Teiman camp and Beit Lid base are the beginning of the end for “Israel”, Avi Ashkenazi, military affairs correspondent at Maariv, stated.
He noted that there are some in the Israeli government who have not served in the occupation’s army but are “apparently working to dismantle it,” describing a state of shock among the IOF and citing concerns about the entire security and military establishment.
Another Israeli journalist, Ben Caspit, stated in an article in Maariv that “Israel” is not on the threshold of chaos but rather is “in the midst of chaos,” further detailing that while Netanyahu claims to be one step away from “absolute victory”, the Israelis have discovered they are “one step away from civil war.”
The Israeli correspondent noted that Ben-Gvir managed to transform the police into “political police”, warning that this has led to a situation where the army does not have the support of the police and both, along with the Shin Bet and the Mossad, work for “the benefit of influential people and politicians.”
Caspit continued that if he were Hezbollah, he would have “gone on vacation for a full quarter of the year, just like the Knesset,” in reference to the occupation army yesterday halting “important deliberations regarding the escalation in the north after storming the military base in Beit Lid.”
‘Israel’ has a long history of weaponizing sexual violence
Since 1948, Palestinians of all ages, both women and men, have faced abduction, detention, torture, and sexual assault by Israeli occupation forces in their prisons, with Sde Teiman being one particularly notorious facility. Often, their families are forced to witness these abuses.
Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahagna recounts shocking testimonies from Palestinian detainees stating that Israeli soldiers have raped Palestinian prisoners to death in detention.
Israel has kidnapped more than 9,500 Palestinians since the beginning of its genocide in Gaza,… pic.twitter.com/0RmjpcSXqD
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 15, 2024
Since October 7, images emerged showing Palestinian women and men being stripped naked by Israeli forces. Subsequently, testimonies from Palestinian men began circulating globally, revealing extreme forms of sexual torture and assault, some of which involved attack dogs.
