Alameen Templeton
Apartheid Israel has had to postpone plans to attack Lebanon after right-wing settlers attacked several army bases to free soldiers accused of horrific rape and abuse at a torture camp.
Masked and armed settlers stormd the Beit Lid base in the north of the country after it emerged occupation/annexation soldiers accused of severe moral violations and extreme torture at the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp. It has been likened to the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Boy in Cuba.
One Palestinian detainee was gang raped by nine or 10 Israeli soldiers and endured torture so severe it resulted in paralysis and hospitalization. Israeli Army Radio reported the victim was discovered at Sde Teiman in critical condition and was rushed to hospital for treatment and surgery.
The settler violence upended the army’s Lebanon attack plans after it had transferred three battalions from the Nahal Brigade to the north.
Al Mayadeen reports social media posts showed the settlers also attacked the Sde Teiman camp, leading to heated arguments between settlers and military police there.
Israel’s far right factions led by cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich had launched the protests after the soldiers were arrested for severe abuse. This was despite their sentences being significantly reduced due to pressure.
The right wing says the convicted soldiers are heroes and should be given medals instead.
Ben-Gvir stated that it was “shameful” for “Israel” to arrest “our best heroes,” while Smotrich said that “IDF soldiers deserve respect” and must not be treated as “criminals.”
Multiple reports of abuse at Sde Teiman have already emerged in global media, fanning an outcry from local and international rights groups about the horrific conditions there.
Army chief Herzi Halevi condemned the riots outside Sde Teiman base for undermined “the army, Israel’s security, and the war effort” while prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, security minister Yoav Gallant, and president Isaac Herzog pleaded separately for calm.
More army units have been dispatched to the Beit Lid camp where the army courts and military police are headquartered to restore order.
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