Former Israeli Military Lawyer Arrested Over Leak of Video Allegedly Showing Detainee Abuse
Israel’s former top military lawyer, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has been arrested as the political fallout deepens over the leak of a video allegedly showing the abuse of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers, according to BBC News.
Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned last week as the Military Advocate General of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), had publicly taken “full responsibility” for the leak. Her resignation came after Defense Minister Israel Katz barred her from returning to her post, saying she had betrayed military trust.
On Sunday, the story took a dramatic turn when Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing, prompting an hours-long search along a beach north of Tel Aviv. She was later found alive and “in good health,” police said only to be taken into custody.
Israeli police later confirmed that two individuals had been arrested for “leaking and other serious criminal offenses.” Local media identified them as Tomer-Yerushalmi and former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomosh.
At the center of the scandal is a video broadcast in August 2024 by an Israeli television channel, allegedly showing reserve soldiers at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel severely abusing a Palestinian detainee. The footage purportedly captured the soldiers shielding the scene with riot shields before one allegedly stabbed the detainee with a sharp object.
The detainee survived with serious injuries. Five reservists have been charged with aggravated abuse and causing grievous bodily harm, though all deny the allegations. Four appeared at a press conference outside Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday, masked and flanked by lawyers from the right-wing legal group Honenu, who called the prosecution “biased and politically motivated.”
The case has become a flashpoint in Israel’s polarized political climate. Right-wing politicians and supporters of the accused soldiers have condemned the leak as an act of betrayal, accusing the former military lawyer of defaming the IDF. Left-wing commentators, however, have described her actions as a rare instance of accountability within the military hierarchy.
In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi wrote that she had approved the release of some material “to counter false propaganda against the army’s law enforcement authorities.” She added that it was the army’s “duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of violence against a detainee.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident “perhaps the most severe public relations attack the State of Israel has faced since its founding,” echoing Katz’s claim that she had spread “blood libels” against Israeli troops.
The controversy follows a UN Commission of Inquiry report last year alleging that Palestinian detainees, including minors, have been subjected to “widespread and systematic abuse” in Israeli detention facilities since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks. Israel has categorically rejected those claims, maintaining it is “fully committed to international law” and investigates all credible complaints.
The episode has left Israel’s military establishment divided between those defending the army’s image and those insisting that confronting alleged abuses is essential to preserving it.
