While welcoming the conviction of an Israel Defense Forces reservist who brutalized Palestinian prisoners at the notorious Sde Teiman torture prison, an Israeli advocacy group on Thursday decried the perpetrator's seven-month sentence as an affront to justice.
The IDF said Thursday that the reservist—identified as 25-year-old Israel Hajabi—admitted "to having severely abused Palestinian detainees" while guarding detainee transport trucks at Sde Teiman, located in Israel's Negev Desert, while he was stationed there between January and June of last year. As part of a plea deal, Hajabi, who has already spent 80 days behind bars, was sentenced to seven additional months of imprisonment and a demotion from staff sergeant to private.
"All those who abused the detainees must be brought to justice, and the military detention facilities must be closed immediately."
"The defendant was convicted of several incidents in which he struck detainees with his fists and his weapon while they were bound and blindfolded," the IDF said. "These acts were carried out in the presence of other soldiers, some of whom called on him to stop, and were even recorded on the defendant's mobile phone. The military court determined that additional masked soldiers participated in the abuse, though their identities remain unknown."
Hajabi also forced victims to make animal noises, say "am Yisrael chai"—Hebrew for "the people of Israel live"—and other demeaning phrases.
This is the first time that an IDF member has been convicted for harming Palestinians during the war on Gaza, during which Israeli forces killed or wounded more than 170,000 men, women, and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Sde Teiman gained global infamy following reports of torture, rape, and murder of detainees. The IDF is investigating the deaths of at least 36 Palestinians at Sde Teiman, including one who died after allegedly being sodomized with an electric baton.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), a Jerusalem-based nonprofit, called Hajabi's sentence "woefully inadequate."
"The conviction of the reservist and the sentence he received are indeed important developments, especially in light of the delay and weakness that the military justice system has demonstrated since the beginning of the war in handling and enforcing similar cases of abuse of detainees," PCATI said in a statement posted on social media.
"However, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the sentence does not constitute a significant deterrent," the group continued. "Physical harm and humiliation of a helpless detainee by someone who is trusted with his safety, when other soldiers have called on him to stop the act, constitutes serious abuse that requires a much more severe punishment, one that will ensure true deterrence and emphasize the seriousness of the offense."
"It is important to remember that there were other people involved in the incident who were not brought to justice, and many other cases of abuse have not been investigated at all to this day, and they may remain unpunished and without appropriate response," PCATI added. "All those who abused the detainees must be brought to justice, and the military detention facilities must be closed immediately."
Hassan Jabareen, the director of the Palestinian rights group Adalah, toldThe Guardian Thursday that Hajabi's case "including the punishment, indicates that Israel has a policy of impunity when it comes to their soldiers."
"Whatever they do, at most they will have a light sentence," he added, claiming that some Palestinian citizens of Israel have received longer prison sentences than Hajabi for social media posts expressing solidarity with Gaza.