Allegations of prisoner abuse expose deep rifts in Israeli military

JERUSALEM — Israel’s so-called army of the people is in crisis as social and political rifts long present in the broader society seep into the military. 

Last Wednesday evening, stunned Israelis watched footage of a mob breaking into the Sde Teiman detention facility, where Hamas assailants have been held since Oct. 7. 

It was a rare scene in Israel: not only loss of control over a military base, but in wartime.

The rioting, in which a handful of right-wing Knesset members took part, followed the military police's detention of nine reserve soldiers suspected of severe sexual abuse of a detained Hamas assailant. After their detention in Sde Teiman, the soldiers were taken for questioning to the Beit Lid military base in central Israel, where hundreds of hard-line activists massed at the gates and swarmed in, shouting abuse at the prosecutors. The military sent two battalions of reinforcements to protect the base, which houses the military courts.