Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order an investigation into the conduct of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and whether he delayed the police response when protesters broke into a military base.
In response, Ben-Gvir sent a letter denying Gallant's allegations. "This is a baseless accusation. the Supreme Court banned me from taking any operative part in police work" he then asked the prime minister to investigate Gallant's failings leading up to an on October 7 and accused him of cooperating with the opposition to bring down the government. Ben-Gvir also called for Gallant to be fired.
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Yoav Gallant, Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir
(Photo: Shalev Shalom, Abir Sultan / AFP, Alex Kolomoisky )
On Monday, protesters including members of the coalition, forced their way into the Sde Teiman detention facility near Beer Sheva when military police were on site to detain suspects in a "brutal sexual assault" of a Nukhba terrorist detained there. Reserve soldiers deny accusations.
The protesters attempted to prevent the arrest and later tried to enter the military court compound, where nine suspects were taken. The men were suspected of sodomizing a prisoner after medical records bolstered his claims of assault.
As protesters gathered outside the detention camp, police were notably late in responding to the incidents in both locations.
Gallant said that the absence of the police for long hours required the IDF to deploy forces to the area, taking them away from their missions and also made the chief of staff himself, leave important matters to deal with the "incited mob."
Gallant also asked Netanyahu to take action against lawmakers from the coalition who participated in the rioting.
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Tali Gottliev, member of the Likud with masked protesters outside the military courts
(Photo: Raanan Ben Tzur)
Gallant said in an urgent letter titled "The violent incursion into IDF bases," that the breach of the bases "is a serious affront to national security and the government's authority as it expressed through the IDF."
He also said: "The backing of elected officials for the rioting in the military bases and serious remarks made to senior officers is grave and very dangerous and harmful to Israel's social cohesiveness and to its image in the world. This dangerous event must be immediately dealt with decisively," Gallant wrote.
In his letter, Gallant also wrote that the participation of ministers and lawmakers serves the hostile propaganda against Israel and "deflects from the horrors committed against Israelis by the enemy."
Zvi Sukkot , a lawmaker from Ben-Gvir's far-right Otzma Yehudit Party, who was with the protesters when they forced their way into Sde Teiman, said he thought it a grave matter that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi left important consultations to deal with the matter.
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Far-right lawmaker Zvi Sukot with protesters breaking into the military detention base at Sde Teiman
(Photo: Ilana Curiel)
"Israel has a police force and its job is to maintain public order," he told Ynet in an interview. "We are in an existential war that is led by the chief of staff and I expect him to refrain from intervening in political matters," he said.
"Halevi should have stayed in discussions on the situation in the north and I as an elected member of the Knesset, expect him first of all to deal with Israel's real enemies and not with politics. There was no operational advantage for his arrival at [the military courts at] Beit Lid. It was a political event."
Halevi suffered abuse from the crowd when he arrived at Beit Lid. "This borders on anarchy," he said. IDF forces deployed to the West Bank were rushed to the scene after the police failed to arrive to disperse the rioters.