The video of Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian prisoner is self-evident. However, the Zionist state’s top military lawyer has found there was “insufficient” evidence to proceed with the matter and dropped charges against five soldiers accused of the assault at the notorious Sde Teiman military prison.
The withdrawal of the charges has been welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but condemned by human rights groups.
The charges of aggravated abuse and serious assault arose from an investigation into the incident in July 2024, which could not be swept under the carpet after the leak of a video that showed the Palestinian detainee being attacked as some two dozen other detainees lay face-down nearby.
According to a February 2025 indictment, the five soldiers beat the man, dragging him across the floor, stepping on his body, breaking his ribs, and puncturing a lung. One of the charges also describes the detainee suffering an internal rectal tear after being stabbed in the buttocks.
CNN reports the army’s top lawyer – known as the Military Advocate General (MAG) – said the security camera footage captured on the leaked video did not “clearly and irrefutably show acts of severe violence at the level required for a criminal conviction.”
Netanyahu, who previously described the video as “the worst PR disaster in Israel’s history,” said in a statement, “It is unacceptable that it took so long to close a case pursued criminally against IDF soldiers who are confronting the worst of our enemies. Israel must pursue its enemies – not its heroic fighters.”
The Palestinian Centre for Prisoners’ Advocacy called it a “clear attempt to obscure the truth,” which “once again confirms that the Israeli military judicial system serves merely as a tool to protect perpetrators of crimes and grant them effective immunity from accountability and punishment.
The Israeli human rights group “Yesh Din” said the cancellation of the indictment “proves that Israel is unwilling and unable to prosecute soldiers suspected of serious violations of international humanitarian law.” According to the group, there are only two indictments regarding crimes committed by Israeli soldiers during the war in Gaza, CNN reported.