Far-right MK Cohen vows not to heed summons for questioning on mob attack on IDF bases

Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen says he has received word that the State Prosecutor’s Office is still investigating his role in the far-right mob attacks on the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid military bases, which took place over the summer.

“I will clarify again to avoid embarrassment and unpleasantness: I will not appear for testimony or questioning unless I am taken in handcuffs using force,” the far-right lawmaker tweets, adding that he was not one of the demonstrators who entered the Sde Teiman detention facility.

On July 29, an ultranationalist mob broke into the two military bases to interrupt legal proceedings against reservist soldiers detained for the suspected sexual abuse of a Hamas police officer who had been arrested in the Gaza Strip several weeks prior.

Complaining of “selective enforcement,” Cohen says that he will only testify after investigations are completed into the leak of footage showing the July 29 attack and into the conduct of several opposition politicians, including The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan and Hadash-Ta’al party chairman Ayman Odeh, in unrelated cases.

“If your desire is to intimidate me, as you tried to do in the investigation of the incident 13 years ago… I have a dunam to sell you on the moon,” he adds, referring to a since-dropped investigation into allegations that he had used violence against a civilian during his service in the Israel Police over a decade ago.

In August, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), a watchdog group, called on the police and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to bring criminal proceedings against coalition and government officials involved in the storming of the army bases.

The group noted at the time that several elected officials, including Cohen, were filmed encouraging rioters to break into the military bases, or had filmed themselves doing so.