From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot defends breaking into IDF base: ‘I was doing my job’
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"
Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot defends his action in breaking into the IDF’s Sde Teiman base in southern Israel on Monday, telling members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, “I completely stand behind what I did.”
“I was doing my job,” the far-right lawmaker declares.
Speaking with The Times of Israel after the meeting, Sukkot says he has no regrets over his actions. Pulling out a card identifying him as a Knesset member, he argues that the accreditation “gives me the right to enter any place in the State of Israel” in order to engaged in oversight.
Suspecting that there was something “improper” going on at the base, “I came to check what was going on there,” he continued, adding that the IDF “needed to allow me to enter inside.”
Sukkot was one of dozens of far-right activists and lawmakers who rioted outside the Sde Teiman base on Monday after nine IDF soldiers were detained by Military Police investigators amid an investigation into alleged severe abuse against a Palestinian terror detainee.
Sukkot was filmed pushing through the gates despite IDF efforts to block his entrance.
