How torture video of Palestinian detainee has led to arrest of Israel’s ex-top military lawyer

The former top lawyer in Israel’s military has been arrested over a torture video.

Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) last week, was arrested by the Israeli police. Tomer-Yerushalmi is accused of leaking a video that purportedly showed IDF soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee.

Irate right-wingers and Israeli ministers have accused Tomer-Yerushalmi of betraying the state and levelling a “blood libel” against its soldiers. There have been multiple reports accusing Israeli soldiers of physically and sexually abusing Palestinian detainees since the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas.

But who is Tomer-Yerushalmi? What do we know about the video?

Let’s take a closer look.

Who is she?

Tomer-Yerushalmi was the Military Advocate General (MAG) of the IDF – the top lawyer in Israel’s military and chief legal officer. The 51-year-old mother of three is the first woman to serve in the position and the second to hold the rank of Major General.

Tomer-Yerushalmi was born in Israel’s Netanya in 1974. She studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she graduated with honours. She joined the IDF in 1996 and began her career in the MAG Corps. She then completed a master’s degree in law from Tel Aviv University in 1999. In 2003, she graduated from the US Army JAG School in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a master’s degree. She also graduated from the “Afek” IDF Command and Staff Course.

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She held myriad positions during her service, including Senior Aide to the Chief Military Prosecutor, Legal Aide to the Military Advocate General, Deputy Chief Prosecutor for Central Command, Head of the Legal Oversight Branch, Head of the Legislation and
Communication Branches, and Head of the Legislation and Legal Advice Department.

Tomer-Yerushalmi also served as Military Judge and Deputy President of the District Court responsible for the Home Front Command and the General Staff districts from 2007 to 2015. In 2019, she was promoted to Gender Affairs Advisor to the Chief of Staff. She was appointed the MAG of the IDF in September 2021.

What do we know about the video?

The video was leaked in 2024. Aired by Israel’s Channel 12, it purportedly showed soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel – where prisoners have been kept since the war began – sodomising a Palestinian detainee from Gaza.

The clip, which was broadcast, showed the soldiers purportedly sodomising the detainee behind their shields. The video, which was picked up by several media outlets, caused international outrage and protests within Israel about the treatment of prisoners.

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The case was investigated by Israel’s military, who then arrested the soldiers who allegedly committed the acts. In all, nearly a dozen soldiers were indicted by the authorities – of which five were indicted in February. They were charged with, among other things, using a “sharp object” to stab the detainee near the rectum.

The Israeli military said in February that it had filed charges against 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 indictment revealed that the alleged abuse occurred on 5 July 2024, during a search of the detainee, who was taken to an area adjacent to the prison, blindfolded and handcuffed.

It also gave credence to the myriad allegations being made against the IDF from rights groups about how Palestinian detainees were being treated, particularly at the Sde Teiman detention facility. Rights groups have claimed that prisoners are being detained for months on end without charge and that they are physically abused by the IDF soldiers.

However, the leak of the clip and the arrest of the soldiers involved aroused the ire of ultra-nationalist forces, including members of Netanyahu’s coalition, who then overran the Sde Teiman facility and demanded suspects be released and the cases against them be dropped.

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 has called such accusations “outrageous”, adding it was “fully committed to international legal standards regarding the treatment of detainees”.

‘To counter propaganda against military law enforcement’

Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned from her post on Friday, in her resignation letter, claimed that “the decision to open an investigation regarding the incident at the Sde Teiman base was necessary”.

She claimed that those detained at Teiman are terrorists and terror operatives of the worst kind; however, that does not change the fact that there is a need to investigate when there are accusations of violence against a detainee.

“Unfortunately, this basic understanding — that there are actions which must never be taken even against the vilest of detainees — no longer convinces everyone,” she added. She said that “slanderous” statements were directed at the law enforcement within the IDF and took note of the mass break-in at the Sde Teiman base and at the base housing the military court.

Tomer-Yerushalmi said she personally approved the release of the clip to “counter the false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities” and took full responsibility for the same.

Interestingly, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s family reported her missing over the weekend. There were reports that her car was found abandoned near a beach and a letter left inside – prompting concerns of suicide. She made contact with her husband later on Sunday.

She was found alive and unharmed at a beach in north Tel Aviv, a kilometre north of Hatzuk Beach. Authorities then brought her husband to speak to her. She will now be interrogated by authorities.

Channel 12 reported that police think Tomer-Yerushalmi had no intention of taking her own life and that she had instead staged the disappearance in order to get rid of her phone, which may have contained compromising information.

Netanyahu called the development “the most serious public-relations attack” against Israel to date.

“It is perhaps the most serious public relations attack Israel has experienced since its founding — I cannot recall one so concentrated and intense,” Netanyahu said. “This requires an independent and impartial inquiry, and I expect that such an investigation will indeed take place.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Monday wrote on Telegram: “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, Ben Gvir 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.”

With inputs from agencies