Nov. 3 (UPI) — A former top lawyer in the Israeli Defense Forces has been arrested for her alleged part in the release of a video showing IDF personnel severely abusing a Palestinian detainee.
Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned from her post as Military Advocate General of the IDF. She said she took full responsibility for the leak.
Former IDF chief prosecutor Col. Matan Solomosh was also arrested in the leak.
Tomer-Yerushalmi and Solomosh were arrested Sunday night for the leaks and “other serious criminal offenses,” including the alleged cover-up of the leak, The Times of Israel reported. A court ruled Monday that the two should stay in custody until noon Wednesday. The police had requested five days, saying they believed the pair would try to obstruct the investigation.
The video was broadcast in 2024 on an Israeli news channel. It showed reservists at the Sde Teiman military base taking a detainee, surrounding him with riot shields and allegedly beating and stabbing him in the rectum with a sharp object. He was treated for severe injuries.
The reservists were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm. They have denied the charges.
The reservists, who haven’t been named, appeared Sunday with their lawyers outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The lawyers demanded the case be dismissed. The reservists wore balaclavas to hide their identities, the BBC reported.
Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned Friday. In her resignation letter, she admitted she shared the video to the media.
“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. “It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee.”
Before the video was released, some right-wing politicians had said that the abuse allegations were fake.
After she resigned, Defense Minister Israel Katz condemned her actions.
“Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army’s uniform,” he said.
Sde Teiman has come under fire for military abuses. Last year, several human rights organizations expressed alarm over reports of abuse at the facility. In July 2024, Amnesty International published a report of civilian detainees at the facility being kept indefinitely without access to lawyers and suffering torture and abuse at the prison.
