Knesset Member Limor Son Har-Melech spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about the Force 100 arrests.
"I am leaving a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The Military Advocate General chose not to attend, and during the session, additional details emerged that should concern us all," said Son Har-Melech, noting that during the session, it became apparent that, as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed Monday, IDF investigators contacted released terrorists who are already back in Gaza to gather information about their time in Israeli prison and to hear whether they have complaints about how IDF soldiers treated them.
"We wondered," said Son Har-Melech in reference to the committee discussion, "what motivation those terrorists might have to make positive statements regarding the soldiers when they know that every complaint they make will be investigated, and those soldiers will be arrested and interrogated."
Son Har-Melech added further details of the allegations against those soldiers. She mentions that the committee did not discuss the investigation process itself, but she wants to highlight and detail one significant issue:
"The media echoed, and it's not clear who in the Military Advocate General staff they were echoing, that our soldiers are labelled as rapists and abusers. But the real story is that there are phones smuggled in by lawyers we allow in [to the prisons]." She noted that "the Military Advocate General approved the shortening of the waiting time for a lawyer at the request of the terrorists."
She stressed that the lawyers are smuggling communication devices and phones to the terrorists, which allow them to communicate with the outside world and even direct terrorist activities: "That terrorist took the phone and hid it in the place where he claims he was assaulted, and the device had to be retrieved, but it is echoed to us as a case of sodomy and rape. It's something entirely different, but the Military Advocate General repeatedly accepts the terrorists' allegations."
Son Har-Melech recalled that "to date there are zero indictments against terrorists, and I do not see her rushing to issue indictments."
In her opinion, the legal arm's conduct proves that there is an inexplicable willingness to persecute the soldiers who are devoted to our security and arrest them in such a degrading manner.
"We are dealing with a Military Advocate General whose agenda is sick, whose worldviews are distorted. We do not begin to understand the depth and breadth of the implications of yesterday's event in relation to our soldiers, to the message sent to the world, and to those holding our captives. What do we think this will cause?"
She also mentioned that contrary to what was claimed in the media, the battalions allegedly transferred to Beit Lid to deal with the protesters were not sent as a response to the protests, but are battalions of soldiers who left Gaza and were supposed to go to Beit Lid anyway for a breather after their operations in the Strip and before continuing their activities. Now she fears a severe blow to their motivation due to the events they were exposed to.
When asked if the boundaries of lawful protest were breached, Son Har-Melech replied:
"In the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the hypocrisy screamed to the heavens. Knesset Member Merav Michaeli, who responded to the inconceivable acts of destruction and public disorder and vandalism [of the left] with the words 'not pleasant, not terrible,' today speaks of unprecedented rioting, so someone there told her [sarcastically] 'not pleasant, not terrible...'"
"There is no anarchy, but there is a public awakening and people are beginning to understand how our judicial system operates. Either you identify with your own nation or you're alienated from them. There is no in-between," alluding to accusations that the legal system is acting as if there is no ongoing war.
Son Har-Melech emphasized another aspect of the issue:
"They forget the context. The soldiers were guarding the Nukh'ba terrorists who murdered, raped, beheaded, and dismembered. That's the context, and it must not be confused or given a peaceful and calm image. We will not forget and we will not let anyone forget the context and the overall event."
Regarding the question of whether the Military Advocate General could ignore a complaint placed on her desk, Son Har-Melech responded with a brief question, "Who is the complainant?" and added, "I asked the representative of the Military Advocate General who the complainants are. They talk about complaints being submitted, but who made the complaint? It’s a battalion commander in Jabalia. Understand who we are dealing with. It feels like an unreal moral decline."
