A week on, no arrests or summonses against rioters who broke into military bases
Law enforcement officials silent on investigations, though Hebrew media report says police have begun collecting evidence
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
A week after ultranationalist mobs and several elected officials broke into two military bases to disrupt legal proceedings against reservist soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinian terrorist detainees, the police on Monday were yet to make any arrests or summon suspects for questioning.
The Attorney General’s Office, State Attorney’s Office, and police have remained silent as to whether any investigations have been opened into the events of last Monday.
Several appeals have been made to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and the police to begin criminal proceedings against those who broke into the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid bases, among whom were two MKs and a government minister, but no such announcement of such proceedings has been made.
An unsourced Channel 13 news report said Sunday that the police have begun collecting evidence from the events, including security camera footage and social media videos in order to identify, arrest and question those who broke into the bases.
Any decision regarding whether to prosecute the minister and the MKs involved in the incident will have to be brought to the attorney general for a decision.
Neither the Attorney General’s Office, nor the State Attorney’s Office, nor the Israel Police responded to a request for comment by The Times of Israel.
Dozens of activists broke into the Sde Teiman military base after military police arrived at the site to detain nine IDF reservist soldiers suspected of committing severe abuse against Palestinian prisoners held at the detention center on the base.
Among those to enter the base without authorization were MK Nissim Vaturi of the ruling Likud and MK Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party, along with National Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit.
Around 1,200 activists later turned up at the Beit Lid military base, where the reservist soldiers had been brought for a remand hearing at a military court.
Video footage showed the protesters confronting and attacking soldiers while inside the base.
Before setting out for Sde Teiman, Sukkot recorded a video from inside the Knesset that he posted on X saying the detention of the soldiers must be stopped, and added, “I’m leaving the Knesset for Sde Teiman right now. We have to protect our soldiers. We have to stop this disgrace now.”
Another member of Knesset who was present at the protests was Likud MK Tali Gotliv, who recorded a video from inside her car on her way to Beit Lid that she too posted to X.
Directing her followers to also go to the military base, she gave them instructions as to how to navigate there by GPS, adding that there needed to be “a great deal of pressure” on the Criminal Investigations Division of the military police.
“Come to the Beit Lid base… we will not allow the Military Advocate General to conduct proceedings that harm our soldiers, and for sure not during a time of war… we won’t let this happen,” she vowed.
In the wake of the incident, Sukkot insisted in several media interviews that his parliamentary immunity allowed him to enter the base and that he had done so as part of his role as an MK to “provide oversight for the executive branch.”
But requests to open criminal proceedings against the protesters, including the public officials, came immediately.
Labor MK Efrat Rayten requested last Monday afternoon that the attorney general open an investigation into Vaturi and Sukkot for breaking into Sde Teiman.
Then on Thursday, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), a watchdog group, sent a letter to Baharav-Miara, Israel Police Acting Commissioner Avshalom Peled, and the head of the police investigations and intelligence department, demanding that criminal proceedings be brought against the coalition and government officials, along with other protesters who broke into the military bases.
In its letter to the law enforcement officials, MQG noted that clause 115 of the penal code prohibits entering an IDF base or restricted zone without authorization, punishable by three years in prison.
It also pointed to clause 382a of the penal code, which prohibits assaulting a public official to prevent them from carrying out their duty, and carries with it a three-year prison sentence.
MQG also called for criminal investigations against the elected officials who participated in the break-ins, insisting they are not permitted to enter IDF bases without prior authorization.
The organization claimed that despite the parliamentary immunity they enjoy as elected officials and the rights afforded them under the law for freedom of access to any non-private site in Israel, MKs are expressly not permitted to enter sites where there security and military secrecy restrictions.
MQG also noted that other elected officials, including Minister for the Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasslrauf, along with MKs Almog Cohen and Limor Son Har Melech of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit and MK Gotliv of Likud were videoed, or videoed themselves, encouraging rioters to break into the military bases.
Persuading someone to break the law is itself illegal and anyone found guilty of doing so is liable to half the sentence of someone breaking the actual law.
“There can be no doubt that in a situation in which an elected official in Israel abuses his power and standing in order to participate in, and encourage other citizens to take part in, a violent and illegal event of breaking into IDF bases and attacking soldiers doing their duty while mortally wounding state security and public trust necessitates a deep and immediate investigation by the law enforcement agencies,” MQG said.
