The five soldiers who raped a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman facility recently had the charges against them dropped
Mar 18, 2026
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz recently met with the soldiers responsible for raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman torture facility, ordering their reinstatement to the army and apologizing to them for the “injustice” they faced.
The meeting came days after the charges against them were officially dropped.
According to Hebrew media reports, including Channel 14, the soldiers from Force 100 attended the meeting with Katz wearing masks, in order to conceal their identities.
During the meeting, Katz told the soldiers, “I apologize for the injustice the system has done to you,” referring to the investigations opened against them and the “psychological harm” he said was caused by the military legal process.
Military sources told the Jerusalem Post they were “surprised” by Katz’s order to reinstate the soldiers, as the war chief “has the power to approve or hold up certain senior appointments, but not the power to order the army to return soldiers to service who have been caught up in legal proceedings.”
The sources added that they were “skeptical that any reinstatement would actually occur.”
The meeting came after the Israeli army’s top lawyer ordered the cancellation of the indictment against the five soldiers.
Among the reasons for the cancellation was “complexity regarding the existing evidence.”
It also cited the five soldiers’ claim of “abuse of process.” A video of the sexual assault had been leaked by Israel’s former military advocate general, resulting in two arrests and a major scandal late last year.
BREAKING: In a bombshell decision, Israel’s Military Advocate General Itai Ofir has dropped charges against five Israeli soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility in 2024. pic.twitter.com/NujCjx8PD4
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 12, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also released a statement praising the cancellation of the indictment.
“The blood libel known as the ‘Sde Teiman affair’ against the fighters of Force 100, which smeared Israel’s reputation around the world in an unprecedented way, has come to an end,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on 12 March.
“It is unacceptable that it took so long to close the case, which was conducted in a criminal manner against IDF soldiers who are confronting the worst of our enemies. Israel must pursue its enemies, not its heroic fighters,” the statement added.
After the video was leaked and broadcast in 2024, the five soldiers were briefly arrested for the abuse, prompting extremist illegal settlers to riot in their defense and storm the bases where they were being held.
According to the indictment filed against the soldiers, the Palestinian detainee suffered severe injuries, including broken ribs and an internal tear in his rectum.
The high-profile investigation into the abuse caused outrage among coalition politicians, government ministers, and right-wing Jewish activists.
The soldiers appeared on Israeli television multiple times, were treated as celebrities, and were repeatedly hailed as “heroes.”
Here’s Meir Shitrit, who raped a Palestinian detainee on camera, being trotted out as a hero on Israeli national TV
Israeli reservists staged riots in his defense, and the lawyer who tried to prosecute him is now under house arrest
The sickest society pic.twitter.com/Tj024c8ST7 https://t.co/ILnZvxsSFI
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 12, 2026
The Sde Teiman facility, where the soldiers raped the detainee, is notorious for Israeli abuses against Palestinian prisoners.
Back in January, Israeli rights group B’Tselem released a report titled Living Hell, documenting the systemic torture across Israeli prison facilities holding Palestinian detainees.
Based on testimony from released prisoners, the report detailed widespread abuse carried out by prison guards, soldiers, and Shin Bet personnel, including rape, forced anal penetration with objects, beatings to the genitals, starvation, electric shocks, and denial of medical care
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