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Violent clash over torture of Palestinian detainees reveals extent of Israeli political polarization

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The Israeli military is holding nine soldiers for questioning following allegations of "substantial abuse" of a detainee at the Sde Teiman military base, where Israel has been holding Palestinian prisoners throughout the war in Gaza. (AP)
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Right-wing Israelis demonstrate next to the Sde Teman military base near Beersheba on July 29, 2024, against the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee following the October 7 attack in Israel. (AFP photo)
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Updated 01 August 2024
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Violent clash over torture of Palestinian detainees reveals extent of Israeli political polarization

  • Investigation into maltreatment of a Palestinian in a military detention facility sparks rightwing protests
  • New accusations include use of waterboarding, electrocution, and sleep deprivation on Palestinians in Israeli custody
Updated 01 August 2024
Lucas Chapman

ATHENS: Southern Israel’s Sde Teiman detention facility was rocked by protests on Monday when dozens of protestors — including several far-right members of the Knesset — clashed with military police.

The protestors, waving Israeli flags and chanting “shame,” were condemning the arrest and detention of nine Israel Defense Forces reservists accused of subjecting a detained Palestinian man to abuse so severe it resulted in his hospitalization.




Protests have been held in support of the detained reservists despite mounting allegations of the maltreatment of Palestinians. (Reuters/AFP)

As domestic political tensions continue to rise and the war in Gaza shows no sign of stopping, many are wondering whether the widely reported torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody will only deepen the political rift in Israel.

The protest at Sde Teiman was expected, especially given the rhetoric of Israeli lawmakers regarding the treatment of detained Palestinians. Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir took to X on Monday to post: “Take your hands off our reservists!”




For Israel's right-wing extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, the military reservists charged with torturing and maltreating Palestinian prisoners are “heroes.” (AFP photo)

Some Israeli politicians’ brazen endorsement of torture is even more shocking. When asked by a fellow member of the Knesset whether there was any justification for sodomizing a detainee, Likud Party MK Hanoch Mildwidsky shouted: “Yes! If he is a Nukhba (Hamas militant), everything is legitimate to do!”

Bezalel Smotrich, the minister of finance, also condemned the arrests on X, demanding the release of the reservists — whom he called “IDF heroes” — and calling for those who ordered their arrest to be sacked.




This undated photo taken in the winter of 2023 and provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)

Videos posted on social media also showed far-right parliamentarian Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionist Party and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit entering the detention facility at Sde Teiman.

The Sde Teiman protest escalated after protestors realized the detained reservists were being held at the Beit Lid military base north of Tel Aviv, where they attempted to break into the detention center to release the soldiers.

Several members of the reservists’ unit also joined in the protest in full military uniform, though their faces were covered.




People lift placards bearing portraits of Palestinians currently detained by Israel during a protest in solidarity with them and with the residents of the Gaza Strip, in Ramallah city in the occupied West Bank on July 30, 2024. (AFP)

Allegations of the torture of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces have been mounting for years — even more so since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on Wednesday alleging the death of at least 53 Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody since the war began, as well as the use of waterboarding, electrocution, and sleep deprivation.

 

 

The Israel Prison Service has denied all of the allegations, claiming that Israeli prisons do not violate the rights of prisoners.

The OHCHR report added that more than 9,400 Palestinians had been detained in Israel from October to the end of June, many of whom had not been granted access to a lawyer.

Since Oct. 7, thousands of Palestinians — including medics, patients, residents and captured fighters — have been taken from Gaza to Israel, “usually shackled and blindfolded,” the OHCHR report said.

INNUMBERS

• 53 Palestinian detainees believed to have died in Israeli custody since Oct.7. 

• 9,400 Palestinians detained in Israel from October to the end of June.

Source: OHCHR

Thousands more have been detained in the West Bank and Israel. “They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review,” OHCHR added.

Testimonies for the report suggested that Israel had subjected prisoners to “a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report.

Many released Palestinians reported treatment “including severe beatings, electrocution, being forced to remain in stress positions for prolonged periods, or waterboarding.” The report said detainees had been subjected to blackmail, “being burnt with cigarettes, and given hallucinogenic pills.”




Palestinian Faouzi Abdel Aal, 21, lies at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip where he will receive treatment for his injuries, after being reportedly released from an Israeli detention center into Gaza via the Karem Shalom gate, on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

It said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that since Oct. 7, Israel and Palestinian armed groups had “committed gross violations and abuses … of the rights to life, liberty and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.”

These included the use of “rape and other forms of sexual violence,” warning the abuses may amount to war crimes. Besides calling for the abuses to cease, the OHCHR urged all parties to “immediately end all forms of arbitrary detention, including the holding of hostages.”

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A summary of the report referred to a “staggering” number of detainees — including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders.

“Detainees said they were held in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers. Their testimonies told of prolonged blindfolding, deprivation of food, sleep and water,” the summary said.




Bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees are transported by Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Dec. 8, 2023. (Haaretz via AP/File)

Some detainees said that “their hands were tied and they were suspended from the ceiling,” while “some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence.”

According to the Prisoners Club, a Palestinian rights watchdog, around 9,600 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails, including hundreds under administrative detention where they can be kept for long periods without charge.

Not all Israelis have defended the alleged actions of the arrested reservists, nor do they support the use of torture and the violation of the human rights of Palestinian detainees.

 

 

“Are you in favor of rape? Is this part of Judaism?” Israeli human rights activist Yariv Oppenheimer replied to Belal Smotrich’s post on X.

Israeli writer Hen Mazzig condemned the protests, during which he said members of the media were verbally and physically assaulted.

“Israel’s investigation (of the reservists) must be allowed to proceed. This protest and the politicians encouraging it do NOTHING to help Israel. It only gives more material for those who hate us,” he posted on X on Monday.

 

 

Only a handful of Israeli government officials have condemned the protests and the storming of the detention facility, chief among them Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel.

“Even when angry, the laws apply to everyone — do not break into IDF bases and do not violate the laws of the State of Israel,” Gallant posted on X.

“I call on the Israeli Police to act immediately against the violators of the law and on all elected officials to refrain from irresponsible statements that drag the IDF into the political arena,” he said in a separate post.




Israeli soldiers and police clash with right wing protesters after they broke into the Beit Lid army base over the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee, following the October 7 attack in Israel, on July 29, 2024 in Kfar Yona. (AFP)

In a statement on Monday, Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the IDF, stated that the break-ins at IDF bases were “extremely serious and against the law.”

However, despite these condemnations, Israeli security forces at the IDF military bases were reportedly apathetic towards the protestors, and there have been no reported detentions or arrests of those involved.

The day after the protests saw a boisterous meeting in the Knesset after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the mob that broke into IDF bases.

Despite attempts by right-wing activists and lawmakers alike to have the arrested reservists released, eight of the original 10 reservists had their detentions extended this morning and will remain in custody until Sunday, according to the IDF.

The suspects may face charges of aggravated sodomy, assault, and conduct unbecoming of a soldier, among other charges.
 

 

Topics: War on Gaza Editor’s Choice Israel Palestinian prisoners Sde Teiman Bezalel Smotrich

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Iraq, US agree on phased pullout of coalition troops

Updated 13 sec ago
AFP
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Iraq, US agree on phased pullout of coalition troops

  • Pullout to be completed from Bagdad and other parts of federal Iraq by September 2025 and from Kurdistan by September 2026, says Iraq defense chief
  • The US has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group
Updated 13 sec ago
AFP

BAGHDAD: Iraq and the United States have agreed on a phased pullout of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition but have yet to sign a final agreement, the Iraqi defense minister said Sunday.
The US has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group.
They have been engaged in months of talks with Baghdad on a withdrawal of forces, but fell short of announcing any timeline so far.
On Sunday, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbassi told pan-Arab television channel Al-Hadath that the coalition would pull out from bases in Baghdad and other parts of federal Iraq by September 2025 and from the autonomous northern Kurdistan region by September 2026.
The pullout is “two-phased” and “maybe we will sign the agreement within the next few days,” Abbassi said.
He added that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had said in a meeting that “two years were not enough” to carry out the withdrawal.
“We refused his proposal regarding an (extra) third year,” Abbassi said.
Coalition forces have been targeted dozens of times with drones and rocket fire in both Iraq and Syria, as violence related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza since early October has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East.
US forces have carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against these groups in both countries.
The Daesh group seized parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, and was defeated by Baghdad three years later and in Syria in 2019.
But jihadist fighters continue to operate in remote desert areas although they no longer control any territory.
Iraqi security forces say they are capable of tackling Daesh remnants unassisted, as the group poses no significant threat.

Topics: Iraq US troops in Iraq Daesh Islamic State

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Israeli strikes in central Syria kill seven: war monitor

Updated 13 min 2 sec ago
AFP
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Israeli strikes in central Syria kill seven: war monitor

  • In the most high-profile attack on Syria since the war in Gaza began, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in April, a strike that Iran said killed seven military advisers, including three senior commanders
Updated 13 min 2 sec ago
AFP

DAMASCUS: Israeli strikes in central Syria killed at least seven people late Sunday, including three civilians, a war monitor reported.
Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes there, targeting pro-Iranian groups in particular.
“The number of dead in the Israeli strikes on the Masyaf region stands at seven, namely three civilians, including a man and his son who were in a car, and four unidentified soldiers,” said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a vast network of sources inside the country.
The attack also wounded at least 15 others and destroyed military facilities in the area, the Observatory said.
“Thirteen violent explosions rang out in the zone housing scientific research centers in Masyaf where pro-Iranian groups and weapons development experts are present,” the group said in an earlier statement.
The Syrian state news agency Sana had previously reported five killed and 19 wounded near Masyaf, citing a medical source.
“Around 11:20 p.m. (2020 GMT) on Sunday, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the northwest of Lebanon targeting a number of military sites in the central region,” Sana reported, citing a military source.
“Our air defense shot down some missiles.”
Israeli air raids in Syria have intensified since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
At the end of August, three pro-Iranian fighters were killed in the central region of Homs in strikes attributed to Israel, the Observatory said.
A few days later, the Israeli military said it had killed an unspecified number of fighters belonging to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad in a strike in Syria near the Lebanese border.

 

 

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine Gaza Syria Iran

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Algeria’s president joins opponents in claiming election irregularities after being named the winner

Updated 54 min 50 sec ago
AP
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Algeria’s president joins opponents in claiming election irregularities after being named the winner

  • The tally reported on Sunday gave Tebboune a total vote share that was far more than the 87 percent that Vladimir Putin won in Russia’s March elections and the 92 percent that Ilham Aliyev got in Azerbaijan’s February contest
Updated 54 min 50 sec ago
AP

ALGIERS, Algeria: After being declared the winner of Algeria’s election, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune joined his two challengers in criticizing the country’s election authority for announcing results that contradicted earlier turnout figures and local tallies.
The claims of irregularities mar what had earlier appeared to be a landslide victory for the 78-year-old head of state.
The country’s independent election authority on Sunday announced that Tebboune had won 94.7 percent of Saturday’s vote, far outpacing his challengers Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif, who received only 3.2 percent and socialist Youcef Aouchiche, who got just 2.2 percent.
Hours later, Tebboune joined his opponents in questioning the reported results with the three campaigns jointly issuing a statement accusing the country’s election chairman of announcing contradictory results.
In a country where elections have historically been carefully choreographed affairs, such astonishing questions about irregularities shocked Algerians who expected Tebboune to win in a relatively uneventful fashion.
It’s unclear what will follow all three candidates casting doubt on irregularities and whether they will prompt legal challenges or delay the final certification of the result.
The tally reported on Sunday gave Tebboune a total vote share that was far more than the 87 percent that Vladimir Putin won in Russia’s March elections and the 92 percent that Ilham Aliyev got in Azerbaijan’s February contest.
But efforts from Tebboune and members of his government to encourage voter turnout to project legitimacy appeared to have fallen short, with less than one out of every four voters participating.
Election officials on Sunday reported 5.6 million of the country’s roughly 24 million voters had turned out to vote. Such high abstention rates, which remain unofficial, would surpass the 2019 presidential election when 39.9 percent of the electorate participated.
Officials did not explain why they had earlier announced 48 percent voter turnout at the time of polls closing. Before the three candidates joined in questioning the discrepancy, both of Tebboune’s challengers raised questions about it, citing their own tallies.
Aouchiche called it “strange.” Ahmed Sadok, Cherif’s campaign manager, blasted delays and the way the figure was calculated.
“It’s a shame. It’s an attack on the image of Algeria, which will become the laughing stock of nations,” Sadok said earlier in the day.
He also said there had been a failure to deliver vote-sorting records to the candidates’ representatives and that said the party had recorded instances of proxy group voting and pressure put on poll workers to inflate certain figures.
Claims of irregularities cap off an election season that outraged activists and civil society groups. Human rights advocates railed against the campaign season’s repressive atmosphere and the harassment and prosecutions of those involved in opposition parties, media organizations and civil society groups.
Some denounced this election as a rubber stamp exercise that can only entrench the status quo. Amnesty International last week condemned Algeria’s “brutal crackdown on human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in the run up to the country’s presidential elections.”
Before the candidates questioned the results, Tebboune’s supporters and detractors each had drawn conclusions from the results.
Pro-Tebboune university professor Abdellaoui Djazouli said on public television that the result was a resounding endorsement of Tebboune’s program.
“The president has more legitimacy to continue his action to better establish his project for the new Algeria,” he said on public television.
But his runaway victory fueled criticism from pro-democracy activists who have long seen elections as tools that the country’s political elites have used to give off an appearance of popular support.
Many said the loudest message to come out of the election came from those who chose to abstain out of fear that the election would only entrench and legitimize “le pouvoir” — a term used to describe the military-backed elites who run the country.
“The vast majority of the Algerian people have just given ‘le pouvoir’ a lesson in democracy,” said Nassira Amour, a teacher and leading figure from Algeria’s pro-democracy movement.
“The majority did not vote ... This electoral masquerade is a victory for the Hirak,” Amour added, referencing the pro-democracy movement that swept the country in 2019.
That year, after Hirak protesters flooded the streets of Algerian cities, the military ousted President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after two decades in power. The interim government that replaced him heeded calls from military leaders to hold elections later that year, angering protesters who saw expediting elections as a way to calm discontent and sidestep demands for civilian-led, non-military rule.
Tebboune, considered the military’s candidate, won his first-term in a widely boycotted election during which crowds sacked voting stations and police broke up demonstrations. Despite his early overtures and pledges to listen and usher in a “New Algeria,” Hirak protesters continued weekly demonstrations demanding deeper reforms.
Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area and, with almost 45 million people, it’s the continent’s second most populous after South Africa to hold presidential elections in 2024 — a year in which more than 50 elections are being held worldwide, encompassing more than half the world’s population.

 

Topics: Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune

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14 killed in a car crash in war-torn Yemen, state media report

The clothes of a victam lies on the wreckage of a bus at the site of an airstrike in Saada, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018. (AP)
Updated 09 September 2024
AP
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14 killed in a car crash in war-torn Yemen, state media report

  • The crashes claim thousands of lives every year and are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws
Updated 09 September 2024
AP

SANAA, Yemen: A passenger bus overturned while driving Sunday in a mountainous area in southwestern Yemen, killing at least 14 people, state-run media reported.
The vehicle was traveling on a highway overlooking a rocky area in the Maqatra district when it suffered a mechanical failure and tumbled to the ground, according to the state-run SABA news agency.
The bus was transporting 14 passengers from the southern province of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government, to the southwestern province of Taiz, the agency reported.
It said only one person survived the crash and was taken to hospital for treatment.
Deadly traffic crashes are not uncommon in Yemen, where a decade of civil war wrecked the country’s infrastructure. The crashes claim thousands of lives every year and are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws.
Yemen plunged into civil war in 2014, when Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed at the time by the US, in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government to power.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people including civilians and combatants. In recent years the situation has deteriorated and the conflict has largely turned into a stalemate and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

 

Topics: Yemen Houthi

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Algeria’s Tebboune: reassuring to some but criticized over rights, freedoms

Updated 41 min 46 sec ago
AFP
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Algeria’s Tebboune: reassuring to some but criticized over rights, freedoms

  • Tebboune claims he has since put Algeria, Africa’s third-largest economy, back on track, with the Ukraine-Russia war boosting natural gas prices to the country’s benefit as the continent’s top exporter
  • Tebboune, 78, was elected in December 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, despite a record abstention rate exceeding 60 percent, amid the massive Hirak pro-democracy protests
Updated 41 min 46 sec ago
AFP

ALGIERS: Abdelmadjid Tebboune, re-elected for a second five-year term, has sought to reshape his bureaucratic image into that of a reassuring figure, though his record remains tarnished by criticism over freedoms and human rights.
He was re-elected Sunday with almost 95 percent of the vote and a “provisional average turnout” of 48 percent, according to the electoral authority ANIE.
He was facing moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani, 57, who won 3.17 percent of the vote, and socialist candidate Youcef Aouchiche, 41, who won 2.16 percent.
Tebboune, 78, was elected in December 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, despite a record abstention rate exceeding 60 percent, amid the massive Hirak pro-democracy protests.
The demonstrations, which began in February of that year and led to the ousting of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, under whom Tebboune served in various ministerial roles, sought a sweeping political overhaul.
With a calm demeanour and, to some, an affable appearance, Tebboune attempted to appease the protests, pardoning a few dozen jailed activists.
He has claimed to uphold the Hirak’s “blessed” spirit, which he says freed the North African country from an oppressive past.
Yet he oversaw the imprisonment of hundreds of other activists, banned the movement’s weekly rallies, and cracked down on dissent with support from the military.
Five years on, Tebboune’s tenure still reflects “a democratic deficit,” said Hasni Abidi, an analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center.
Algerian authorities “have maintained their repression of civic space by continuing their brutal crackdown on human rights,” Amnesty International said.
The London-based rights group denounced “a zero-tolerance approach to dissenting opinions” in “a climate of fear and censorship.”
Tebboune, however, has avoided addressing such accusations, instead touting his social and economic credentials and pledging more if re-elected.

The incumbent president frequently refers to Bouteflika’s final years in power as the “mafia decade,” when control of Algeria’s energy wealth was concentrated in the hands of a “gang.”
During his tenure, several key figures from that era, including Bouteflika’s brother Said, were convicted on corruption charges and imprisoned.
Tebboune claims he has since put Algeria, Africa’s third-largest economy, back on track, with the Ukraine-Russia war boosting natural gas prices to the country’s benefit as the continent’s top exporter.
He has capitalized on this by promising free housing, more jobs, a higher minimum wage and increased social pensions.
During campaigning, Tebboune aimed to appear close to the people, even wearing traditional Tuareg clothing while rallying in the southern Sahara region.
He has also courted the young vote — about a third of registered voters — and pledged to create 450,000 jobs and increase monthly unemployment benefits if re-elected.
In March, he expressed pride in being called “ammi Tebboune” (“Uncle Tebboune“), deeming it even “a paternal relationship.”
Running as an independent, Tebboune has sought to distance himself from political parties, which have lost credibility among many Algerians.
His supporters say he has revived the presidency, which became largely invisible under Bouteflika after his 2013 stroke.
“The presidency has shifted from being a phantom institution to a real center of power,” said the analyst Abidi.
However, critics argue that Tebboune rose to power with military backing.
Like Bouteflika, he serves as defense minister and supreme commander of the armed forces and has never challenged the military’s political role, calling it “the backbone of the state.”
He is often seen with chief of staff Said Chengriha at public events.

A graduate of the National School of Administration, Tebboune climbed the ranks in the 1980s as a prefect in several provinces, eventually becoming part of the state apparatus that the Hirak protests later wanted to be reformed.
In 1991, he served as minister of local communities under president Chadli Bendjedid, who was ousted in early 1992 as the Algerian civil war began.
Dubbed the Black Decade, the war saw the military step in to halt legislative elections after the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round and vowed to establish religious rule.
Tebboune largely disappeared from the political scene during the war, which ended in 2002, but returned when Bouteflika was elected in 1999, briefly serving as communications minister.
He held various other portfolios until 2002, followed by a decade-long hiatus.
Tebboune returned in 2012 as housing minister and became prime minister in 2017, though he was dismissed after only three months, allegedly confronting oligarchs close to Bouteflika.
Many of those oligarchs were later jailed for corruption during Tebboune’s presidency.
Once a heavy smoker with a thin moustache, Tebboune, now married with three sons and two daughters, quit smoking in 2020 after contracting Covid-19 and spending two months hospitalized in Germany.
He returned to Germany in 2021 for foot surgery.
 

 

Topics: Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune

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