The detention of two IDF soldiers suspected of beating a fellow soldier was extended until Sunday.
The IDF Military Police arrested two soldiers on Sunday, following a complaint from a third serviceman, who claimed the two viciously beat him recently at an IDF base in northern Israel.
The Military Police Investigations Unit began probing the incident after a Druze soldier was hospitalized with a fractured nose after being beaten by two other soldiers when he refused to switch sleeping quarters at their request.
The detention of the two soldiers was extended until the completion of the investigation.
The soldiers' defense attorneys expressed confidence that their clients would be found innocent.
"The investigation is in its final stages. When the evidence is gathered it will show that the soldier who filed the complaint used violence against our clients, who are innocent," the attorneys said.
"Unfortunately, despite a lengthy confrontation and other testimonies, the investigating unit refrained from interrogating the complainant because this is a tendentious and biased investigation, and not being conducted as intended, with the aim of investigating the truth. We reiterate that in any event, there was no basis for the suspicion that the confrontation between the soldiers was motivated by racism," they added.
The injured soldier's mother recounted the incident in an angry Facebook post which went viral. "He was brutally beaten by two soldiers with kicks and fists because he refused to leave his bedroom, and a day later they attacked him again until he was unconscious and lay bleeding and humiliated on the floor," she wrote.
"The next morning the soldiers who had attacked him approached him and assaulted him again, threatening and demanding that the soldier whitewash what happened, in order to avoid punishment, and if not, they would beat him more severely," she continued.
"This time they did not stop beating him until the soldier lost consciousness. This beating could have been avoided if the army had acted sooner."
"Today the soldier is at home recovering and being supported by his family after the traumatizing incident which he suffered while his attackers are released to their homes, where they celebrate Hanukkah and spend Shabbat. We, the family of the soldier who was attacked, view this incident with extreme severity. Our son is a soldier who serves his country," she concluded.