Source: BBC
DST News: Israeli authorities have arrested Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the former Military Advocate General of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), following a growing controversy surrounding the leak of a video allegedly depicting the abuse of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers.
Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned from her post last week, admitting her role in the leak and taking “full responsibility” for the incident. On Sunday, reports emerged that she had gone missing, prompting police to launch a search operation along a beach north of Tel Aviv. She was later found safe but was subsequently taken into custody.
The leaked footage, aired in August 2024 by an Israeli television channel, shows IDF reservists at the Sde Teiman base in southern Israel allegedly assaulting a Palestinian detainee. The soldiers reportedly used riot shields to conceal the act and allegedly stabbed the detainee in the rectum with a sharp object. The victim sustained serious injuries and required hospital treatment.
Five reservists have been charged with aggravated abuse and causing grievous bodily harm. They denied the allegations and appeared masked at a press conference outside Israel’s Supreme Court, demanding that the case against them be dismissed. Their lawyer, Adi Keidar from the right-wing legal aid group Honenu, claimed the legal process was “biased and fabricated.”
The controversy deepened after it was revealed that the abused detainee had been released to Gaza in October as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.
A criminal probe was opened last week to investigate the video leak. Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that Tomer-Yerushalmi would not be reinstated, leading to her formal resignation on Friday.
In her resignation letter, she acknowledged authorizing the release of certain materials to the media “to counter false propaganda” against the army’s law enforcement bodies, adding that the military has a “duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of violence against a detainee.”
The incident has heightened political tensions in Israel, sparking debates over military accountability and the government’s handling of alleged detainee abuse.
