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ISRAELI POLICE HAVE arrested former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, following a scandal that erupted after she leaked a video appearing to show soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee.
Tomer-Yerushalmi disappeared for several hours yesterday after she announced her resignation.
According to a copy of her resignation letter published by Israeli media on Friday, Tomer-Yerushalmi acknowledged that her office had released the video to the media last year.
Five army reservists have been formally charged since the video was leaked in 2024. Among the charges they faced was using a “sharp object” to stab the detainee near the rectum.
The arrest of ten reservists at the time led to protests at the army base where they were being held after the incident, during which people attempted to storm the facility.
The alleged abuse was also endorsed by at least one member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party at the time.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on Telegram today: “It was agreed that in light of last night’s events, the prison service would act with extra vigilance to ensure the detainee’s safety in the detention centre where she has been placed in custody.”
In the statement, he emphasised the “importance of… conducting the investigation professionally in order to uncover the full truth regarding the case that led to a blood libel against IDF (military) soldiers”.
According to Israeli media, a Tel Aviv court ordered Tomer-Yerushalmi’s remand in custody until noon on Wednesday.
Public broadcaster Kan reported that she was suspected of “fraud and breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice and disclosure of information by a public servant”.
She is implicated along with another member of the military prosecution.
On Friday, the army announced that Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned from her post pending an investigation into leaked footage.
The case began in August 2024 when Israel’s Channel 12 broadcast footage from Sde Teiman, which has been used to hold Palestinians taken during the war on Gaza.
The surveillance camera footage at the time indicated that soldiers had committed illicit acts, without explicitly showing it, as it appeared to take place behind troops holding up shields.
The video was picked up by several media outlets and the case triggered international outrage.
The Israeli military said in February that it had filed charges against the five reservist soldiers connected with mistreatment at Sde Teiman.
The statement said they were charged with “acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee’s bottom with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee’s rectum”.
It added “the acts of violence have caused severe physical injury to the detainee, including cracked ribs, a punctured lung and an inner rectal tear”.
The statement said that the abuse took place on 5 July 2024 during a search of the detainee, who was taken to an area adjacent to the prison, blindfolded and handcuffed.
It mentions numerous pieces of evidence gathered during the investigation, including footage from surveillance cameras and medical documents.
The military prosecutor’s office today informed the lawyers representing some of the soldiers in the case that the detainee who was supposed to testify against them had been deported to Gaza in October.
“The military prosecutor announced today (Monday) to the lawyers of the soldiers from Unit Force 100, who are charged in the Sde Teiman case, that the terrorist whom the soldiers are accused of assaulting has been deported to Gaza,” said a statement from the right-wing Honenu advocacy group representing some of the soldiers.
As Tomer-Yerushalmi’s arrest was announced today, Channel 12 reported that police suspected that she had staged her disappearance in order to get rid of her phone, which may have contained compromising information.
Some Israeli media reported that she left behind a letter which could be interpreted as a suicide note.
In October 2024, a UN commission found thousands of detainees were subjected to “widespread and systematic abuse” in Israeli military camps and detention facilities that amounted to a “war crime and crime against humanity of torture”.
Israel called the accusations “outrageous”, adding it was “fully committed to international legal standards regarding the treatment of detainees”.
There are more than 10,000 Palestinians currently held in Israeli jails and prison camps, most of them without charge or trial.
Israeli human right organisation B’TSelem has described these facilities as a network of torture camps.
With reporting from AFP
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