Israeli defense minister demands inquiry into police inaction after riots at army bases

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to investigate whether National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir prevented the police from acting against rioters at the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid military bases in southern and central Israel.

“Take a firm stand against coalition members who participated in the riots,” Gallant asked Netanyahu in a letter cited by The Times of Israel newspaper.

He also urged Netanyahu to “order an immediate investigation to examine whether the national security minister prevented or delayed police action to respond to the violent events in which members of his party took part.”

The defense minister also called for action against Knesset members and ministers who participated in Monday's riots, which included the storming of the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid military bases.

On Monday evening, chaos erupted inside the Beit Lid base when dozens of right-wing protesters stormed the military court within the base, protesting the arrest of nine soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza.

The military deployed three battalions to protect the base.

The presence of officials and soldiers among the rioters sparked condemnation within Israel amid calls for expelling far-right extremists from the government and the Knesset, citing threats to “Israel's rule of law and security.”

"Elected officials who support the riots at IDF (army) bases and actively participate in them pose a very grave danger that harms national security,” Gallant warned.

The defense minister also stressed that the riots “serve the hostile propaganda against Israel.”

According to Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the military criticized the police for their “inability to control the riots at Sde Teiman and Beit Lid.”
The military said “despite appeals to the police on Monday when the chaos began at Sde Teiman, it took the police several hours to control the situation.”

“Later, an insufficient number of police forces arrived to handle the riots at Beit Lid,” the broadcaster said.

The police, under Ben-Gvir's command, did not immediately respond to the military's accusations.

In recent months, numerous reports have emerged of mass abuses of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza at Sde Teiman Prison in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Israeli authorities often claim to investigate these incidents, but tangible results are rarely seen.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
At least 39,400 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul