Wanted to 'counter false propaganda against law enforcement'

IDF’s top lawyer quits; says she approved leak of detainee abuse video

Defense minister had said Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi would be ousted over leaked Sde Teiman footage; new military advocate general to be selected soon

The military’s top lawyer, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, announced her resignation from the Israel Defense Forces on Friday, acknowledging that she had approved the leaking of a surveillance video from the Sde Teiman detention facility, which purported to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.

Military Advocate General Tomer-Yerushalmi had been on leave from the IDF since a criminal investigation was launched by police earlier this week into the leaking of the surveillance video. She is expected to be questioned under caution in the coming days.

Tomer-Yerushalmi had prepared a resignation letter on Thursday, which she delivered to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir during a meeting on Friday morning.

During their meeting, Tomer-Yerushalmi told Zamir that she was personally responsible for leaking the video to the media.

In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi wrote: “I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter the false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities.”

“I bear full responsibility for any material that was released to the media from within the unit,” she said, adding that “from this responsibility also stems my decision to conclude my tenure as military advocate general.”

Before the announcement of her resignation, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Tomer-Yerushalmi would be dismissed, although it is unclear if Katz has the authority to dismiss military officers.

“The military advocate general resigned, and rightly so,” Katz said in a later statement. “Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF soldiers is not worthy of wearing the IDF uniform,” he added.

During her meeting with Zamir on Friday morning, Tomer-Yerushalmi asked to step down, the military said, adding that the chief of staff “accepted her request to end her position immediately and will act to stabilize the Military Advocate General and to protect IDF soldiers.”

“The chief of staff is confident that a thorough investigation will be conducted to uncover the truth,” the military added.

Earlier, Katz said Tomer-Yerushalmi “will not be able to return to her position in light of the severity of the suspicions and the sensitivity of the role, which is responsible for law enforcement and setting legal norms throughout the IDF.”

Katz said he would soon appoint an acting military advocate general and later begin a process of selecting a new officer for the role.

The appointment of the military advocate general — like other major general roles in the IDF — is approved by the defense minister, following recommendations made by the IDF chief of staff.

The involvement of individuals at the Military Advocate General’s office in the distribution of the video aired by Channel 12 news in August 2024 was being examined as part of the criminal investigation launched on Wednesday.

The investigation was also looking into the suspicion that Tomer-Yerushalmi was aware and potentially even ordered that the video be leaked to the media. Tomer-Yerushalmi later confirmed in her resignation letter that she was behind the leak.

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.

The criminal investigation into the leaked video stemmed from a failed polygraph test by an officer in the Military Advocate General’s office, reportedly the spokesperson for the unit.

The officer had undergone a routine Shin Bet-administered polygraph unrelated to the Sde Teiman affair. As part of the polygraph, the officer was questioned on the leaked video, according to Hebrew-language media.

Channel 13 news reported that new Shin Bet chief David Zini was updated on the findings of the polygraph, and he relayed them to IDF chief Zamir, as the Military Advocate General is under his authority.

Army Radio, meanwhile, reported that the findings of the polygraph were instead given by the Shin Bet to the chief of the IDF’s Information Security Department, who then updated Zamir.

Zamir then contacted Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara regarding the findings, and she decided to open the criminal investigation into the leak.

The investigation into the abuse was launched in early July 2024, after a detainee from the Gaza Strip was brought from the base to a hospital with signs of serious abuse.

The video purporting to show the abuse was leaked in August 2024, after the reservists were arrested and while prosecutors were preparing indictments.

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.

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 IDF said the indictment was based on a Military Police investigation, including “extensive medical records and authentic visual documentation from the security cameras in the detention facility.”

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.

This led the army to launch several investigations related to incidents at the facility. Earlier this year, an IDF reservist who served as a guard at Sde Teiman during the war in Gaza was sentenced to seven months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees, in a plea deal in a separate case.

Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, Sde Teiman has been used to hold more than 1,000 detainees from Gaza who were suspected of terrorist activity. Many were suspected of taking part in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, though some were arrested during the subsequent IDF campaign in Gaza.

A petition was filed last year to the High Court of Justice demanding that the facility be shut down over the accusations. In a ruling in September 2024, the court warned the state that it must abide by the law, but did not order the government to shut the prison.

The court noted in its final decision that conditions at Sde Teiman had changed significantly since the motion was filed. Due to legal pressures, the government vastly reduced the number of detainees held at the facility.