Bar association chief describes Sde Teiman break-in as ‘sedition’

Head of the Israel Bar Association Amit Becher condemns the break-in at the Sde Teiman military base and detention center, describing it as an act of “sedition” that “tramples on the rule of law.”

“The severe riots and acts of sedition happening right now at Sde Teiman are anarchy and the trampling of the rule of law,” says Becher.

“We are all for the IDF soldiers and the reservists but when suspicions of severe criminal violations are raised there is no escape from an independent investigation,” he adds.

Becher adds that Israel is in the midst of a huge onslaught of legal attacks in the international courts in The Hague, where the country insists that it is “a state of the rule of law in which violations of the laws of war are credibly investigated.”

The IBA head says: “The current riots at Sde Teiman are nothing less than a severe injury to the security of the State of Israel,” and calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin to intervene.

Separately, Shanna Orlik of the Hitorerut organization files a police complaint against Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot for breaking into Sde Teiman, which she points out is a criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence, demanding that he be investigated.

“After he endangered the lives of soldiers in his Succah in [the West Bank Palestinian town of] Huwara [on October 6, 2023, the criminal anarchist Zvi Sukkot has again harmed the army and the country,” says Orlik.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel watchdog group also condemns the riot at Sde Teiman, saying it does “severe damage to the rule of law and to the most fundamental democratic principles.”

“The break-in to a military base and the attempts to intervene in legitimate investigative proceedings, especially by elected officials, have no place in a democratic country,” says the organization, adding that it condemns “any attempt to exert political pressure on the military law enforcement system.”

The organization calls on the attorney general to open up criminal investigations against all those involved in the break-in, “including MKs and ministers who participated in it.”