Arrest of ex-IDF legal chief deepens row over leaked detainee abuse video
Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi held after dramatic search, as political fight over alleged Sde Teiman torture footage escalates
Israel’s former top military lawyer has been arrested amid a fast-intensifying political storm over a leaked video that allegedly shows Israeli soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee.
Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who until last week served as the IDF’s Military Advocate General, resigned on Friday after acknowledging she authorised the release of surveillance footage from the Sde Teiman detention facility in the Negev.
The clip – broadcast on Israeli television in August 2024 – appears to show reserve troops surrounding a detainee with shields before he is allegedly beaten and stabbed in the rectum with a sharp object. The man sustained severe injuries. Five reservists were later charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm; all deny wrongdoing and have not been identified publicly.
On Sunday, the saga took a startling turn when police launched an hours-long coastal search after Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing north of Tel Aviv. Officers eventually located her alive in the Herzliya area – but immediately placed her under arrest. Another former senior military prosecutor, Col. Matan Solomosh, has also been detained. Police said the pair were suspected of “leaking and other serious criminal offences”.
Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation came after Defence Minister Israel Katz declared she would not be returning to her post while a criminal investigation into the leak was underway. Katz sharply condemned her actions: “Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army’s uniform.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the criticism, calling the Sde Teiman case “perhaps the most severe public relations attack that the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment.”
Right-wing politicians and activists have framed the leak as a betrayal of soldiers under unprecedented pressure since the Hamas-led October 2023 atrocities. Several coalition lawmakers stormed Sde Teiman last summer in solidarity with the accused troops, calling the allegations fabricated.
But human-rights advocates and opposition figures argue Tomer-Yerushalmi acted to uphold the rule of law. In her departure letter, she insisted that exposing wrongdoing was essential: “It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee.” She said her intention was to counter “false propaganda against the army’s law enforcement authorities”.
It has also emerged that the detainee in the footage was released to Gaza in October 2024 as part of a prisoner-hostage exchange deal with Hamas.
The Sde Teiman affair has become a clear marker of Israel’s broader political faultline. For the right, the leak is seen as treasonous damage to soldier morale. For the centre-left, the footage is viewed as crucial evidence following repeated allegations of mistreatment of Palestinian detainees.
The investigations – into both the leak and the original alleged abuse – continue to fuel fierce national debate over accountability during wartime, with no sign of tensions easing.
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