From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
IDF said to acknowledge mistakes in way 9 reservists suspected of abusing Palestinian prisoners were detained
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The chief of staff at the IDF Personnel Directorate Brig. Gen. Yoram Knafo tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the manner in which the arrest of nine servicemen was carried out yesterday was mistaken and would not recur, according to committee chair Yuli Edelstein.
The soldiers, suspected of severe abuse of a Palestinian terror detainee, were arrested by masked military policemen during a raid on the Sde Teiman detention center in southern Israel. After the arrests, a mob of far-right activists and lawmakers broke into the base and demonstrated, and later stormed the Beit Lid base where the suspects were being held.
“This morning we held an urgent discussion on the subject of the arrest of the fighters and the conduct of the Military Advocate General and the military police,” Edelstein says in a statement on the closed door meeting. “Unfortunately, the Military Advocate General chose or was instructed not to come to the committee. I am announcing right now that we will hold another discussion in which she will be required to appear before the committee and provide adequate answers regarding investigative policy.”
“I am happy that the head of the Personnel Directorate concluded quickly that the army’s conduct on this issue was not correct and similar cases will not happen again,” he adds.
Following yesterday’s arrests, Edelstein was critical of the army, stating that “a situation in which masked military policemen raid an IDF base is not acceptable to me and I will not allow it to happen again. Our soldiers are not criminals and this contemptible pursuit of our soldiers is unacceptable to me.”
