update deskIsrael at War

Israeli High Court declines to close terrorists detention facility

At the same time, the justices admonished the state to treat the Palestinian suspects according to the law.

Demonstrators protest against the detention of Israeli reserve soldiers suspected of assaulting a Hamas terrorist at the Sde Teiman military base near Beersheva, July 29, 2024. Photo by Dudu Greenspan/Flash90.
Demonstrators protest against the detention of Israeli reserve soldiers suspected of assaulting a Hamas terrorist at the Sde Teiman military base near Beersheva, July 29, 2024. Photo by Dudu Greenspan/Flash90.

Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, on Wednesday rejected a petition asking it to order the closure of the Sde Teiman detention facility near Beersheva. It did, however, issue a stern warning to the state regarding its treatment of Palestinian terrorism suspects.

The unanimous decision marks a significant development in the status of the makeshift detention center, which has been housing terrorists captured in Gaza, many of whom were directly involved in the attacks and atrocities on Israel on Oct. 7. 

The ruling comes in response to a petition filed earlier this year by a coalition of far-left NGOs, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Doctors for Human Rights, Gisha—Legal Center for Freedom of Movement and Hamoked—Center for the Defence of the Individual. These groups had called for the closure of the Sde Teiman facility following allegations of systematic abuse of terrorism suspects by IDF soldiers, primarily reservists, at the facility.

Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman, in delivering the court’s decision, said, “Protecting the rule of law, even during a difficult war, is the clear expression of the difference between a democratic state which is fighting for its life, and a terrorist organization which wants to destroy it,” he said.

While the court stopped short of ordering the facility’s closure, it mandated that the state must strictly adhere to legal standards in its treatment of detainees. The ruling comes amid significant changes at Sde Teiman, with the government having drastically reduced the number of detainees there from approximately 700 at its peak to just several dozen by the end of August.

The state had also informed the court of improvements in detention conditions, including reduced use of restraints and the provision of food and medical treatment in accordance with legal requirements. Furthermore, a new detention facility at Sde Teiman, purportedly offering conditions comparable to established prisons, is scheduled to open soon.

Justice Daphne Barak-Erez, in her remarks, stressed that the previous conditions at Sde Teiman “will not return,” insisting that all detainees must be held in a manner consistent with the law, regardless of the circumstances leading to their detention.

Mixed reactions

The court’s decision has been met with mixed reactions. ACRI, one of the petitioners, welcomed the ruling but expressed disappointment that such a directive was necessary in the first place. “It is regrettable that the High Court was needed to issue rulings that should be obvious—that the state must abide by the law,” an ACRI spokesperson stated.

The Sde Teiman facility has been at the center of a firestorm of controversy since allegations of detainee abuse first surfaced. One soldier has been indicted for allegedly abusing detainees, while another five are under investigation for alleged violent sexual abuse of a detainee.

Vogelman emphasized that the petitioners would be entitled to return to the court should new allegations arise regarding conditions at the facility.

This decision comes against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing conflict, which has presented numerous challenges for the country, including how to manage the large number of detainees captured by security services. The court acknowledged these difficulties but emphasized that they do not exempt the state from its legal obligations.

In July, following the detainment of nine soldiers who were suspected of misconduct at the facility, right-wing protesters, including several Knesset members, burst through the gates of two Israeli military bases to vent their rage. The reservists, assigned to guard terrorists, many of whom had been active participants in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, were arrested by masked military police at Sde Teiman in the middle of the day.

Both the fashion of the arrests and the arrests themselves garnered the ire of thousands of protesters who turned up at the military base in Sde Teiman as well as the base in Beit Lid, in Samaria, where the arrested soldiers were sent, in an effort to secure their release.

Medical opinion

In August, a medical opinion submitted in the case suggested that the IDF reservists suspected of attacking the terrorist were innocent. Professor Alon Pikarsky, director of general surgery at Jerusalem’s Hadassah-University Medical Center and a board-certified general surgeon specializing in colorectal surgery, revealed in a closed military court hearing that the lack of damage to the terrorist’s anus suggests that he caused the wound himself, “as it is precisely the self-insertion of a foreign body, which can also cause a rupture in the rectum, that will not cause damage to the anus itself since the inserter (the patient) will ensure a gentle and non-traumatic insertion of the foreign body.

“The medical records made available to me (hospitalization documents, as well as a computer screenshot dated July 8, 2024, by Dr. Muhammad Melhem), which do not indicate any wounding to the anus, support self-insertion and not insertion by any external party,” Pikarsky concluded.

Later in August, five of the nine reserve soldiers were ordered under house arrest for two weeks while the prosecution completed its investigation.

At the beginning of September, Channel 14 reported that the Military Court of Appeals removed the supervision restriction on the five soldiers, allowing them to return to their civilian work. The decision was made after the soldiers’ lawyers filed an appeal, arguing that house arrest severely damaged their livelihoods.

Under the house arrest imposed on five of the nine soldiers originally arrested, they were not allowed to work and because they were labeled as “dangerous” by the court, close supervision was required at their homes—something that also prevented their wives from earning a living.

The Torat Lechima organization, which provides financial assistance to soldiers, assisted the detainees through donations. A statement made by the organization condemned the situation: “It is inconceivable that IDF reserve soldiers, who left everything to defend the country, are being persecuted by the military prosecution without any proof that they did anything.”

They further claimed that no one in the IDF took care of the soldiers’ livelihoods, “unlike terrorists who live at the state’s expense.”

As a result, the organization called on the public to join the struggle and added, “We call on the government to wake up and stop this witch-hunt, which harms the entire IDF and the war effort against Hamas and its despicable terrorists.”

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