The IDF has confirmed it has dropped charges against five reservists accused of abusing a Palestinian prisoner, saying that a fair trial could no longer be guaranteed.
The men, who served in the "Force 100" prison riot control unit of the Military Police, were accused of aggravated assault and causing severe injury to a prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility.
The alleged assault was said to have occurred shortly after a search was conducted on the detainee, with the soldiers, along with several other members of the riot control unit, accused of attacking him while he was shackled and blindfolded.
One of the soldiers allegedly “stabbed the detainee in his buttock with a sharp object” near his anus, which supposedly caused a tear in his rectal wall.
The prisoner reportedly suffered multiple injuries, including seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and severe damage to his rectum, which required surgery and a stoma fitting that was later removed.
Now, though, Military Advocate General Major General Itai Ofir has formally ordered that the charges be dropped due to "significant developments" in the case.
A document explaining the move cited the "complexity regarding the existing evidence", such as the leak of video evidence (itself inconclusive) by his predecessor and conflicting testimony from the alleged victim, as well as his release to Gaza last year before he could testify fully, as factors in the conclusion that a fair trial could no longer be guaranteed.
It also noted that the suspects had brought an "abuse of process" claim after it emerged that Ofer's predecessor, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, was involved in the leaking of the CCTV clip.
Regarding the evidentiary basis, Ofir wrote that “the security footage does not present a clear and unequivocal picture of the charges attributed to the defendants".
No clear act of violence could be seen on the footage as soldiers gathered around the detainee while the alleged assault is reported to have occurred, blocking him from view with their riot shields, as is standard procedure during searches in detention centres for safety and privacy reasons.
Ofir also noted that "the detainee’s testimony itself was not without difficulty, since there were changes in the versions he provided to different authorities regarding the circumstances of his injury”.
“The accumulation of all these exceptional circumstances, and their impact on the basic and fundamental right to a fair trial, in the view of the Military Advocate General necessitate the withdrawal of the indictment,” he concluded.
The reservists' arrests in 2024 triggered a significant political backlash, especially from the right.
Members of the governing coalition accused the Military Police of unfairly prosecuting the men and suggested that a leaked video of the alleged assault had been selectively edited and did not provide conclusive proof.
Last July, a mob of far-right activists, including at least two members of the Knesset, stormed both Sde Teiman and the Beit Lid military base in protest of the arrest of nine soldiers (only five of whom were charged) accused of abusing the inmate.
Prime Minister welcomed the dropping of the case, referring to the indictment as a "blood libel".
"The blood libel known as the 'Sde Teiman Affair' against the warriors of Force 100, which has damaged Israel's reputation in the world in an unprecedented manner, has reached its end," he wrote on X.
"It is unacceptable that it took so much time to close the case that was handled in a criminal manner against IDF warriors who confront the worst of our enemies.
“The State of Israel must pursue its enemies, not its heroic warriors."
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