The Israeli military’s top lawyer has been arrested after admitting she was responsible for the leaking of a video that purportedly shows soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.
Her remand in detention was extended by three days on Monday.
On Sunday Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military advocate general, was reported as missing, with police mounting an hours-long search for her on a beach north of Tel Aviv. She was subsequently found alive and well, police said, but was then taken into custody.
The dramatic turn of events was the latest instalment in the scandal that has rocked Israel known as the “Sde Teiman affair”, named after the Sde Teiman military base in the south of the country where thousands of suspected Palestinian militants were taken for detention and interrogation during the Gaza war.
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Israeli military police raided the Sde Teiman facility in July 2024 to question 11 reservists over allegations of abuse of detainees.
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In response, far-right protesters, including a number of coalition lawmakers, broke into the facility, pushing past soldiers guarding the base, to show their support for the suspects.
Five reservists were subsequently charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm to a detainee. They denied the charges.
A disturbing video was released and broadcast on Israel’s popular Channel 12, appearing to show soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner. Right-wing politicians condemned the leaking of the video as attempt to defame the Israeli military.
Ms Tomer-Yerushalmi initially lied to the military’s chief of staff and to Israel’s attorney general about her role in the leak but resigned from her position last week after police investigators linked her to the leak.
She justified breaking the law and leaking the video by claiming that presenting the footage of the abuse to the public was necessary in order to push back against false allegations hurled at Israel’s law enforcement.
The right-wing in Israel are focusing entirely on the leak and those behind it while ignoring the allegations of abuse.
“It is perhaps the most serious public relations attack Israel has experienced since its founding – I cannot recall one so concentrated and intense,” prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said. “This requires an independent and impartial inquiry.”
Right-wing politicians also accuse attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara of covering up the affair and attempting to obstruct the investigation into the source of the leak, claiming the affair is another example of the left-wing judiciary acting against the democratically-elected right-wing government.
“Yesterday, when it became clear that the military advocate general didn’t commit suicide, they debated whether they were sad she wasn’t dead or happy they could continue their incitement festival,” commented opposition leader Yair Lapid.
