Israeli lawyers call for public support over Sde Teiman 'abuse' inquiry

Many Israelis, including senior politicians, are furious that military courts are investigating claims of soldiers sexually assaulting a Gazan detainee

Demonstrators broke into the Sde Teiman detention centre after military police entered to arrest soldiers suspected of abusing a Palestinian inmate. Reuters

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Israeli legal experts are calling on the public to stand by the country’s judicial system amid anger that military authorities are investigating five soldiers accused of the sexual abuse of a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman detention centre.

Despite the severity of the allegations at Sde Teiman, which has held more than 1,000 terror suspects since the beginning of the Gaza war, scores of activists and politicians have criticised legal officials and called for the investigations to stop.

Demonstrators have gathered outside the home of Israel's military advocate general Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi in recent days, prompting police to increase her security. Crowds even broke into Sde Teiman soon after the arrests were made at the end of last month.

The military first said it was investigating claims of torture and severe abuse at the base in May.

Israeli legal experts have told The National that the attacks after July's arrests, including from senior government ministers, could undermine the rule of law in Israel and opening the country up to yet more scrutiny from international courts.

An undated photo from the end of 2023 provided by NGO Breaking The Silence purports to show Palestinians held at Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. AP

Former Israeli military chief prosecutor Sharon Zagagi Pinhas told The National that the legal system is Israel’s “ultimate defence”, as it faces global condemnation over the Gaza war and that “incitement against people in [legal] positions is very dangerous”.

Her warning came as a military court released five suspects to house arrest on Tuesday, where they were ordered to remain until August 22 at the earliest.

Ms Zagagi Pinhas was confident that “the work of the military prosecutor will not be influenced by the protests”.

Ms Zagagi Pinhas, who was chief military prosecutor during the case of Elor Azaria, an Israeli soldier who shot dead an incapacitated Palestinian man in Hebron in 2016, said she had political pressure during that time which she was able to withstand.

She said that the amount of political pressure in the case of Sde Teiman is much larger.

Pnina Sharvit Baruch, an Institute for National Security Studies researcher and former head of the military advocate general's international law department, said a small minority of those opposed to the investigation believe the alleged abuse is “justified revenge against people who committed terrible things on October 7”.

“A bigger portion say that our soldiers shouldn’t be put under military investigations during the middle of a war, or that you cannot rely on allegations made by a terrorist,” she added.

Israel's Channel 12 published a video last week that appeared to show soldiers sexually assaulting the man involved in the allegations, in footage the US State Department described as "horrific".

As one of the Israeli military's detention facilities, Sde Teiman normally holds suspects for 45 days before they are transferred to the prison service or released.

Ms Sharvit Baruch thinks the current tensions could end up working in the judiciary’s favour.

“I think here because the pressure is so strong it might actually embolden the military prosecution and the courts to take a firm stand,” she said.

“If they don’t it could be perceived as a step towards the end of democracy in Israel, even though there’s a chance that a harsh sentence could lead to more internal violence and tensions within the military.”

Tal Steiner, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said the Sde Teiman case was dire and potentially overwhelming for the judiciary.

“The political pressure today is immense and unprecedented, far more than we saw in Elor Azaria’s case,” she said.

“I’m not sure how [the judiciary] is going to handle it, but they are going to have to otherwise they will lose the very reason for their existence."

Israel is currently facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over the war in Gaza. AFP

“If they’re perceived to be biased, fearful or ineffective then everyone suffers. Israeli rule of law suffers, the rights of citizens suffer. It will affect Palestinians in detention most of all, because they will be abandoned to the hands of people who have proven themselves to be violent, vengeful and dangerous.”

Ms Steiner, while supportive of an investigation being opened, feared the court will not serve justice.

“Opening this investigation is of course the right thing to do but it has to be judged against two things: first, the outcomes, secondly, how many other similar cases end up not being investigated and why,” she said.

“I would be very surprised if this case ends up in indictment, conviction and then punishment."

She said in three decades of work, "the cases where we saw justice served to our clients, torture victims, were very, very scarce”.

“We haven’t given up with the Israeli judicial system completely," she added. "The reason is that every case we file gives this system a chance to prove it can do better. There’s also no better alternative at the moment."