Unrest at Israeli Army Bases Highlights Battle for Country’s Soul
Recent unrest at two Israeli military bases has highlighted a growing divide among Israelis about the conduct of their soldiers, and revived a deeper and older battle over the nature of the Israeli state and who should shape its future.
The trouble began on Monday after 10 soldiers were detained on suspicion of raping a Palestinian man held at Sde Teiman, a military jail in southern Israel, according to court records. Two of the soldiers were later released.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the base in solidarity with the detained soldiers, including at least three far-right lawmakers from the ruling coalition. Hundreds later massed outside Beit Lid, a second base in which the 10 men had been brought for interrogation. Dozens surged inside both bases, brushing aside the guards at the gates.
The incidents were widely broadcast across Israel, spreading an image of disunity at a time when the country is fighting enemies on multiple fronts.
Amid fears of further unrest and accusations of police complicity, the military sent two battalions of reinforcements on Tuesday to protect the second base. The country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, called for an investigation into whether the police force had been ordered to stand aside by Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right minister who oversees the police; Mr. Ben-Gvir denied the claim.
The decision to deploy more troops inside Israel came as the military leadership questions whether it has enough resources to fight all-out wars in both Gaza and Lebanon, amid fears of a regional escalation.
The unrest at the bases reflected the depth of disagreement among Israelis, including within the military, about the extent to which soldiers should be held accountable for abusing Palestinians accused of participating in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent ground war in Gaza.
In the months before the war broke out in October last year, that existential debate centered around the role of the country’s judiciary.
On one side were Israelis who see their country as a liberal democracy in which the judiciary should act as a strong check on government overreach. On the other were those who feel it would be more democratic to bestow more power to the elected representatives of an increasingly conservative population than to unelected judges.
This schism was exacerbated by the perception on the Israeli right that, despite winning most elections since the 1970s, they still lacked significant influence over the state’s main unelected power centers. That includes the Supreme Court, the military high command and the influential legal departments of government ministries and regional authorities.
Now, these prewar tensions have become enmeshed with wartime disagreements over battlefield strategy, military conduct and the question of who should take responsibility for Israel’s military failures.
To the government’s opponents, the unrest at the military bases, coupled with the involvement of far-right lawmakers, revived their longstanding fears for Israel’s democracy.
“All red lines were crossed today,” Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, said on social media. “Lawmakers and ministers who participate in breaking into military bases with violent militias are sending a message to the state of Israel: They are done with democracy, they are done with the rule of law.”
But for protesters like Oren Buta, 52, a right-wing activist who joined the protest outside Sde Teiman, it was the detentions of the guards, which had been ordered by the military’s judicial branch, that highlighted the weaknesses in Israel’s democracy.
Mr. Buta said he saw it as the latest example of the left’s enduring influence over the watchdog bodies that guide the state from behind the scenes.
“What we saw yesterday underscores how much we need that judicial reform,” he said. “We saw how only one segment of society — leftists — reach positions of power in the state of Israel.”To the protesters, the arrests also fostered the impression that the military is in a greater rush to hold soldiers to account for their treatment of Palestinians than high-ranking generals for their failure to prevent Hamas’s invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.
“The elites don’t see anyone else but themselves,” said Daniela Mehertu, 28, an engineering technician who protested outside Beit Lid on Tuesday. “Most Israeli citizens feel they are not seen.”
The unrest also revealed a deep disagreement in Israel over the rights that should be afforded Palestinians detained in Gaza.
Since the start of the war, the Israeli military has captured at least 4,000 Gazans, mostly from inside Gaza, and brought them to Sde Teiman, for detention and interrogation. More than 1,000 were later judged to be civilians and returned to Gaza, while others have been held on suspicion of links to Hamas and its Nukhba commando brigade.
Former detainees and some Israeli soldiers have said that guards routinely abuse Gazans held at Sde Teiman; at least 35 detainees have died either at the site or shortly after leaving it.
Amid international scrutiny of Israel’s wartime conduct, some Israelis have pushed for improvements at the base, leading rights groups have petitioned the Supreme Court to close it and military prosecutors have been more proactive about investigating allegations there.
But many Israelis have decried this scrutiny, saying that soldiers should not be punished for how they treat prisoners believed to have committed atrocities during the Oct. 7 attacks that Israel says killed roughly 1,200 people.
“The soldiers are angry, and you can understand why,” said Yakir Ben-Zino, 31, a handyman from southern Israel who joined the crowds inside Sde Teiman on Monday. “It tears your heart out, what they did to us,” Mr. Ben-Zino added, referring to Hamas.
A military doctor at the field hospital in Sde Teiman, Prof. Yoel Donchin, said by telephone that the Palestinian detainee had been brought to the site’s field hospital roughly three weeks ago with signs of abuse across his body.
Professor Donchin said doctors immediately sent him for several days of treatment at a bigger civilian hospital and informed the military police that he might have been mistreated by either guards or fellow prisoners.Lawyers for the detained soldiers said they were accused of using an object to rape the Palestinian.
The ensuing unrest set off alarm from some senior politicians, who said the protesters’ actions — and the support for them from parts of the ruling coalition — threatened the country’s cohesion at a time when unity was needed.
“Do we want a state here, or militias that do whatever they want?” Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister, wrote on social media. “Stop pouring fuel on the fire.”
But several ministers and right-wing lawmakers backed the protesters, and in some cases suggested the need to punish Hamas superseded the military’s need for accountability.
In Parliament, a lawmaker from Mr. Netanyahu’s party, Hanoch Milwidsky, was asked whether it was acceptable to sexually abuse a detainee.
“Yes,” he replied. “If he is Nukhba,” he added, referring to the Hamas commando unit, “everything is legitimate to do. Everything.”
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel.
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