(José Niño, Headline USA) The Israeli military dropped all charges against five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee, and by April 2026 those soldiers returned to reserve service with no completed internal investigation.
According to the BBC, the military cited “complexities in the evidentiary structure” as its reason for abandoning the case in March. Two of the five soldiers had failed polygraph tests when asked whether they inserted an object into the detainee’s body. Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir authorized their return to duty, with some assigned to combat roles.
Amnesty International called the decision “yet another unconscionable chapter in Israel’s granting of impunity.”
Multiple human rights organizations have documented testimonies from former detainees describing sexual assault by trained dogs at Sde Teiman and other Israeli detention facilities. Israeli analyst Shaiel Ben Ephraim confirmed he spoke with two Sde Teiman guards. One had witnessed such abuse and said it was “too awful to describe.” The other believed it was true based on accounts from colleagues.
Some have said that claims that Israel uses dogs to sexually abuse prisoners are antisemitic blood libels. Unfortunately, there is a good deal of evidence. The organizations that confirmed this include B’Tselem, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Palestinian Centre for…
— Shaiel Ben-Ephraim (@academic_la) April 17, 2026
A UN-backed Euro Med Human Rights Monitor report published in April 2026 titled “Another Genocide Behind Walls” concluded that sexual violence using animals constituted “an organised state policy rather than isolated misconduct.”
The case originated in July 2024 when ten Israeli reservists were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a Palestinian male detainee at the Sde Teiman military detention facility in southern Israel. The injuries were so severe the prisoner required hospitalization.
CCTV footage of the assault was leaked and later broadcast on Israeli television, showing guards assaulting the detainee while obscuring him with riot shields.
The military’s own indictment described soldiers “stabbing the detainee’s bottom with a sharp object” that caused cracked ribs, a punctured lung, and an internal rectal tear, as the BBC reported.
The arrests did not spark public outrage over the abuse. Instead, they triggered angry protests. On July 31, 2024, the New York Times reported that dozens of far right Israelis stormed two military facilities, Sde Teiman and a military court building at Beit Lid, demanding the soldiers be freed. Senior Israeli politicians from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ruling coalition traveled to the protests and voiced support for the accused soldiers, per Al Jazeera.
As Twitter user Mel documented, protesters “literally took over a part of the base for a short period of time trying to break the reservists free.”
They literally took over a part of the base for a short period of time trying to break the reservists free pic.twitter.com/OOn8aArywC
— Mel (@Villgecrazylady) May 14, 2026
During a Knesset session following the soldiers’ arrests, Likud Member of Knesset Hanoch Milwidsky was directly asked whether it was legitimate to “insert a stick into a person’s rectum.”
As Antiwar.com reported, he replied, “Yes! If he is a Nukhba [Hamas militant], everything is legitimate to do! Everything!”
As Mel observed, this was “the Knesset member shouting that ‘everything is legitimate’ when asked if inserting a metal rod into the rectum is legitimate for soldiers to do.”
The Knesset member shouting that “everything is legitimate” when asked if inserting a metal rod into the rectum is legitimate for soldiers to do. pic.twitter.com/nIaZQL8MZi
— Mel (@Villgecrazylady) May 14, 2026
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the prosecution of the soldiers a “blood libel.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described them as “heroic warriors.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called them “our best heroes.”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
