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Dozens of far-right protesters supported by members of the Israeli cabinet stormed a military base on Monday where soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian prisoner were being detained, an attack condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition, the Washington Post reported.
The nine reservists being prosecuted were serving at the Sde Teiman detention base in Israel’s Negev desert, which for months has been the focus of international attention because of allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners held there.
Footage shared on social media showed protesters and far-right lawmaker Zvi Sukkot rattling the base’s gates to allow him to enter, while guards contained crowds in the perimeter.
Meanwhile, protesters broke into the Beit Lid base, a military court building where the reservists were transported. They confronted troops serving at the base and called them “traitors,” reported Israel’s Haaretz.
Sde Teiman was designed as a temporary detention camp, where Palestinian prisoners, usually suspected of links with militant groups, are held before being either released without charge, or transferred to a civilian Israeli prison.
But detention at Sde Teiman can last for weeks, even months, in extreme conditions, with rights groups and lawyers accusing officials of allowing rape and torture there.
At the same time, politicians criticized the arrest of the soldiers. “Take your hands off the reservists,” said Finance Minister Bezahel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Netanyahu and opposition politicians condemned the breach. Interior Minister Yoav Gallant wrote that it “plays into our enemies’ hands during wartime.”
A military official told CNN they considered the breach as serious as concerns over a widening war with Hezbollah following a rocket attack in the Golan Heights that Israel and Washington blamed on the Lebanese group.
Also on Monday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fanned those worries by threatening to invade Israel to support Palestinians, “just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya,” Politico reported.
Israel reacted to Erdogan’s comments by demanding that NATO expel Turkey, which holds the alliance’s second-biggest military.
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