Israeli military's top lawyer resigns over leak of video allegedly showing abuse of Palestinian detainee
ReutersThe Israeli military's top lawyer has resigned after saying that she was responsible for the leaking of a video that purportedly shows soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.
Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military advocate general, had been on leave since a criminal investigation was launched by police earlier this week into how the surveillance video at the Sde Teiman detention facility was leaked.
Five reserve soldiers have been charged over the incident.
Before her resignation, Defence Minister Israel Katz had said Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi would not be allowed to return to her post.
Warning: this story contains a description of alleged sexual abuse
In her resignation letter, Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi said she took full responsibility for any material that was released to the media from the unit.
"I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army's law enforcement authorities," she said.
That is a reference to efforts by some right-wing political figures in Israel to claim that the video and reports of abuse of detainees were fabricated.
Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi went on: "It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee."
After her resignation was accepted by the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Katz put out a statement welcoming the decision.
"Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army's uniform," he said.
The leaked video was broadcast on the Israeli Channel 12 news in August 2024.
The footage shows soldiers at Sde Teiman taking aside a detainee, then surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility while was stabbed in the rectum with a sharp object. The detainee was treated for severe injuries.
After Israeli military police went to Sde Teiman to question 11 reservists over the incident, far-right protesters broke into the facility to show their support.
Five reservists were subsequently charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm to the detainee. They have denied the charges.
The video was seen as concrete evidence backing up multiple reports of abuse of Palestinian detainees since the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.
Right-wing politicians in Israel, however, condemned the leaking of the video as attempt to defame the Israeli military.
Last year, a report by a UN commission of inquiry alleged that thousands of child and adult detainees from Gaza had been "subjected to widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence, and sexual and gender-based violence amounting to the war crime and crime against humanity of torture and the war crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence".
Israel's government said it rejected the accusations of widespread ill-treatment and torture of detainees, and insisted that it was "fully committed to international legal standards". It also said it had carried out thorough investigations into every complaint.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyk1dk7d9do
Ex-IDF legal chief Tomer-Yerushalmi found alive after frantic beachside search
Former advocate general, who resigned over Sde Teiman abuse video leak, had been unreachable for hours after leaving letter for family; police later arrest her over video affair
Ex-military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned from the Israel Defense Forces over a scandal, went missing on Sunday for several hours before being located alive and well, authorities said.
Hebrew media outlets in Israel ignited a firestorm that lasted less than an hour on Sunday evening, when they revealed that authorities were searching on land and in the sea with flares and helicopters for the IDF’s former top lawyer, after her family had reported her missing to the police.
The large search, involving police, rescue forces, and the military, was carried out after she was unreachable for several hours, and her car was later found at Hatzuk Beach near Tel Aviv. Hebrew media outlets reported that she had left a letter at home, which some characterized as a “suicide note.”
After some two hours of searches, Tomer-Yerushalmi made contact with her husband and was located alive and well along a beach in nearby Herzliya, according to the police.
Police had reportedly tracked her personal phone number to the area, but were still unable to find the device itself as of late Sunday night. A police source speaking to Channel 12 told the outlet that “at this moment it is not known to us where her personal phone is. We understand that it has ‘disappeared.'”
Tel Aviv District police commander Haim Sargarof told reporters that the ex-IDF official was taken for a health checkup.
Later in the evening, Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested in connection with the Sde Teiman video scandal. She has admitted that she leaked a video to the media last year that purportedly showed soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian security detainee at the military detention facility. Additionally, police detained the military’s former chief prosecutor, Col. Matan Solomosh.
Media reports said both were suspected of obstruction of justice over the leak of the abuse video and an alleged subsequent cover-up with false reports given to officials regarding an internal investigation into the leak. Police said that the pair, who are suspected of “leaking and other serious criminal offenses,” would be brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court for an extension of their remand on Monday.
Sargarof said law enforcement sprang into action after receiving a report that Tomer-Yerushalmi had gone missing. Police arrived at the Hatzuk Beach near Tel Aviv and began searches “with augmented forces,” said Sargarof. “Of course, we used all means at our disposal, including in the sea and on land, as well as technological means.”
Unverified Hebrew media reports claimed that the letter found in her home included a line reading: “I love you, take care of yourselves,” generating serious concern for her life.
Tomer-Yerushalmi had been under intense attack by hard-right politicians and their supporters since news emerged that she had been behind the leak, facing accusations of spreading a “blood libel” against soldiers and sometimes characterized as a betrayer of her country and its troops, as the video caused Israel significant reputational damage. A protest by IDF reservists had been scheduled outside her home for Sunday evening.
Following her brief disappearance, opposition leaders condemned political incitement against her, which they claimed contributed to her actions.
Democrats leader Yair Golan said Tomer-Yerushalmi was subjected to the same incitement that was directed against former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by far-right Jewish extremist Yigal Amir in 1995, 30 years ago this week.
“Thirty years after Rabin’s assassination, this same method of labeling ‘traitors’ and encouraging political violence continues. The incitement will only stop after those leading it are removed from power,” he said in a post on X.
Former opposition Blue and White MK Gadi Eisenkot, now leading an eponymous new party, also spoke out against incitement.
“Even if mistakes and failures occurred, inciting violence against public servants is grave and destructive,” he said. “The incitement and inflammatory rhetoric are tearing Israel apart from within.”
In an appeal to the public for calm, President Isaac Herzog implored people to “Stop the accusations and mutual attacks!” in a Hebrew-language post on X.
“Alongside the sense of relief, the past hours compel us to draw immediate lessons,” he added. “As a society and as a nation, we will still need to investigate and learn much about the past few days and this deeply troubling affair, with all the implications that follow.”
The president said that “words that spiral out of control ignite a dangerous fire — and endanger lives. It is now essential to lower the flames, to show humanity and sensitivity.”
Tomer-Yerushalmi had been on leave from the IDF since a criminal investigation was launched by police last week into the leaking of the surveillance video. On Friday, she presented Zamir with a resignation letter, acknowledging that she had approved the leaking of the abuse video.
The leaked footage showed soldiers at Sde Teiman taking aside one of the detainees, who had been lying face down on the floor, then surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility while they allegedly committed the abuse. The detainee was subsequently taken away for treatment for severe injuries.
Earlier this year, military prosecutors filed an indictment against five reserve soldiers for the abuse. According to the indictment, the five soldiers severely beat and assaulted the prisoner after he was brought to the detention facility on July 5, 2024, leaving him with severe injuries, including broken ribs and an internal tear in his rectum.
The high-profile investigation into the abuse caused outrage among coalition politicians, government ministers, and right-wing activists. When the reservists were detained on July 29, 2024, dozens broke into the detention facility and another army base in an attempt to thwart the arrests.
Anti-government activist said probed
Meanwhile, police were reportedly investigating prominent anti-government activist Shikma Bressler, after she made a post prematurely blaming police for Tomer-Yerushalmi’s death — deleting it after she was located alive.
Israel Police chief Danny Levy instructed law enforcement to investigate Bressler on suspicion of incitement and obstruction of an investigation, according to Hebrew media outlets, after she tweeted that “those who incited against Rabin gained power over the police,” as authorities searched for Tomer-Yerushalmi.
Bressler accused law enforcement of failing to protect soldiers or the state prosecutor’s office when “an incited mob from within the Knesset and without broke into Sde Teiman and Beit Lid,” referring to two military bases that were stormed by a right-wing mob protesting the Military Police’s arrest of several soldiers suspected of abusing the inmate.
It was “under this abhorrent pressure that the military advocate general made a mistake,” Bressler continued, referring to the leak. She added that “there should be no doubt; the same ideology that brought about Rabin’s murder also pushed the military advocate general to her death.” After Tomer-Yerushalmi was found, Bressler deleted the tweet.
Likud party spokesman Guy Levy also tweeted during the period when Tomer-Yerushalmi was missing, directly blaming Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for “all this madness.”
Levy asserted that Baharav-Miara should have detained the former IDF official, confiscated her phone and “even placed her under protective custody,” demanding that the attorney general “be arrested and interrogated tonight.”
Likud MK Tali Gotliv posts that “the Military Advocate General belongs in jail! Her so-called ‘suicide attempt’ is an attempt to regain control of the public discourse, to remove from the headlines the disgrace of her actions, and once again to smear people on the right.”
A number of opposition figures, including The Democrats chairman Yair Golan, slammed the incitement against Tomer-Yerushalmi and compared it to that against prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated 30 years ago this week.
“Thirty years after Rabin’s assassination, this same method of labeling ‘traitors’ and encouraging political violence continues,” Golan wrote on X. “The incitement will only stop after those leading it are removed from power.”
The next appointee
Defense Minister Israel Katz met earlier Sunday with Zamir to discuss appointing a new military advocate general. Zamir presented Katz with several candidates for the role.
The Kan public broadcaster cited Katz’s “inner circle” as saying that the next military advocate general must come from “outside the system,” meaning someone who did not serve in the Military Advocate General’s office.
But according to the Military Justice Law — the legal framework for military jurisdiction in Israel — the military advocate general must be “a military attorney with at least seven years of legal experience,” which removes the possibility of a civilian legal expert, or even a senior IDF officer who is not an attorney, serving in the role.
In a statement Sunday night, Zamir said he remained “confident that the Military Advocate General’s office will continue to fulfill its role as expected and required of it by all of us. Even if some officers acted in a grave and improper manner, I have full confidence in our ability to emerge stronger from this difficult event and to restore trust in the MAG.”
The IDF chief said that the military “will do everything possible to maintain stability, appoint a new military advocate general, and ensure that the IDF continues to operate according to the law in carrying out its missions.”
The military opened a detention facility at a base located in Sde Teiman in southern Israel due to an influx of Palestinian detainees as the war in Gaza proceeded, to hold Gazans suspected of terror activities.
Various reports have alleged widespread misconduct and abuse at the site, including extreme use of physical restraints, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments, and more.
Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.
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'Bezoekers hebben geen hinder van de actie ondervonden'. Heeft het Concertgebouw nu eindelijk geleerd dat Palestijnse artiesten niet veilig zijn? RIP Refaat Alareer
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