Palestine This Week: Israel on the brink of civil war?

Video footage emerging from Israel shows civilians storming the military base where at least 9 soldiers were being held for questioning over suspected torture of a Palestinian prisoner. The angry mob called authorities 'traitors', while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted 'take your hands off our reservists'. Is Israel now so divided that a civil war is unavoidable?

In this episode of Palestine This Week we begin with the news about the Sde Teiman detention centre which the Israeli Military Police raided on Monday, detaining nine soldiers on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee. This notorious prison has held hundreds of Palestinians in horrific conditions since 7 October, with allegations of sexual abuse, including rape and torture and has been ordered to be closed by the attorney general. The raid created a political storm in Israel, with many protesting against the detention of reservists.

The conversation then moved on to the weekend’s deadly attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, setting Israel’s annexation of Syrian territory and its illegal occupation within a broader historical context.