Far-right lawmakers and protesters breached the perimeter of a controversial Israeli detention facility for Palestinians on Monday, after the Israeli military confirmed it was investigating soldiers over the alleged abuse of a prisoner.
Footage posted to social media showed chaotic scenes at the Sde Teiman base in Israel’s Negev desert, where far-right Knesset member Zvi Sukkot was filmed slipping through a fence and entering the facility as crowds gathered outside, in protest against the probe. Another video showed people crowding the perimeter of the base as guards held them back.
Protesters also broke into an Israeli military base in central Israel’s Beit Lid, police said, where they clashed with security forces before being cleared out on Monday night. Several of the soldiers at the center of the abuse investigation were being questioned at the Beit Lid base.
The scenes were a stark illustration of the complex partisan divisions coursing though Israel at a time when its current government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relies on support from far-right parties and as the military is already stretched by both the war against Hamas in Gaza and the growing threat posed by Hezbollah to the north.
An Israeli military official told CNN that Israel Defense Forces, IDF, leadership view the break-ins as severely harmful to the country’s security and pose a distraction as the military weighs its options in Lebanon, as fears of further escalation following Saturday’s deadly attack on Majdal Shams mount.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on X the incident “plays into our enemies’ hands during war time.”
Netanyahu called for immediate calm at Sde Teiman and condemned the break-in at the base in a statement on Monday.
Crowds first gathered at Sde Teiman after the IDF said its Military Police Criminal Investigation Division was formally looking into the “suspected substantial abuse of a detainee” at the shadowy base, where prisoners from Gaza have allegedly been held under extreme conditions.
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Israeli leaders condemn break-ins
“The break-in at the Sde Teiman Base is extremely serious and against the law,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the IDF’s Chief of the General Staff, said in a statement Monday, adding that the military was “working to restore order at the base.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid also condemned the breach, criticizing the “dangerous criminality of (Knesset members) who weaken and dismantle the IDF, weaken and dismantle the state of Israel, gnawing away at the foundations of our power from within.”
The far-right Knesset member Sukkot, who was among those at Sde Teiman on Monday, is a member of the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism party, which is led by the far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Smotrich had previously voiced his support for the protests but called for the demonstrations to calm down after the Beit Lid break-in.
“I call on everyone to observe the law and the integrity of the military and the people, not to break into military bases and not to clash with our brothers, the soldiers and the police,” Smotrich said.
President Isaac Herzog slammed elected officials for their involvement, and for encouraging what he said was a “dangerous, illegal and irresponsible act.”
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