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Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Isman on Wednesday approved summoning Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu, Likud lawmaker Nissim Vaturi and Religious Zionist lawmaker Zvi Sukkot for questioning under caution over their involvement in the breach of the Sde Teiman military base.
The three criticized the decision on X, with two announcing they wouldn’t appear for what they called a “political investigation.”
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Religious Zionist Knesset lawmaker Zvi Sukkot breaking into base
On July 29, 2024, shortly after reports emerged that military police had detained reservists suspected of sexually abusing a Nukhba terrorist held at the IDF’s Sde Teiman base, dozens of protesters stormed the area. Some, wearing masks, later breached Beit Lid base, where the soldiers were being questioned.
The protest erupted after videos surfaced of masked Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID) officers arriving at the base to detain the soldiers. Ministers and Knesset lawmakers swiftly condemned the military police’s decision, fueling tensions that led to the base breaches.
Coalition lawmakers rallied behind the suspects, with several arriving at Sde Teiman within hours. Sukkot was filmed entering the base without authorization through a hole in the fence and later seen urging protesters not to confront the soldiers on site.
The controversy extended to a government ministers’ WhatsApp group, where Eliyahu wrote, “What’s happening at Sde Teiman is legal insanity. Whoever ordered the persecution of these heroic soldiers, who live daily among the human beasts of the Nukhba, should hand in their keys and leave.”
Eliyahu, who returned to the government last week along with other Otzma Yehudit ministers, reacted sarcastically, saying, “I welcome the attorney general’s decision to investigate those who spread the misleading defamation video from Sde Teiman, which caused immense harm to the IDF and Israel.”
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“In a state governed by law, a Knesset member has a duty to act when there’s suspicion of a crime,” he later wrote on X. “That’s the essence of parliamentary immunity — not to protect the member of Knesset but to shield public representatives and the public itself from abuse of power.”
Amid efforts to dismiss Baharav-Miara, Eliyahu added, “I will be the one to check whether you’re acting beyond your authority, whether you enforce the law selectively and whether you ignore severe incitement by certain politicians.”
Sukkot also referenced the leaked video from Sde Teiman, claiming it was “buried with Supreme Court approval.”
“You won’t silence me! I won’t show up for a political interrogation orchestrated by the deep state prosecutor and Kaplan cult’s attorney general,” Vaturi wrote on X, referring to the massive Tel Aviv protests. He added, “This is yet another pathetic attempt by Gali and Amit to take revenge on right-wing members of Knesset. My fellow ministers — it’s time to send this attorney general home. Yesterday!”
Meanwhile, the military court on Sunday opened the trial of five reservists accused of abusing a detained Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman. According to the indictment, the soldiers were ordered to search the Nukhba terrorist. After leading him to the search area, while he was handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded, they allegedly subjected him to severe violence.