JERUSALEM — Until recently, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi served as the leading legal officer for the Israeli military. Now, she finds herself incarcerated and at the forefront of a controversy that is shaking the nation following a series of unusual developments that involved her sudden resignation, a short period of being unaccounted for, and a desperate search that ultimately located her on a beach in Tel Aviv.
This dramatic tale began last week when Tomer-Yerushalmi made a surprising confession, acknowledging that she authorized the dissemination of a surveillance tape linked to a politically charged investigation concerning grave allegations of mistreatment of a Palestinian individual in a notorious Israeli military facility.
The footage showcases a portion of an incident during which Israeli soldiers stand accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee.
By releasing the video last year, Tomer-Yerushalmi intended to highlight the serious nature of the claims her department was probing. However, this action sparked significant backlash from Israel’s right-wing political figures. Following her resignation due to mounting pressure last week, she faced ongoing personal attacks from detractors.
She left an enigmatic message for her relatives and left her vehicle abandoned near a beach. This fueled concerns that she might have harmed herself and led to a thorough search operation that included military drones.
She was located unharmed on the beach on Sunday night, which resulted in even more harsh criticism directed towards her.
“We can continue the lynch,” right-wing television host Yinon Magal, who is associated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted with a winking-face emoji.
After it came to light that one of Tomer-Yerushalmi’s mobile devices had gone missing, right-wing politicians and commentators accused her of orchestrating a suicide attempt to eliminate possible evidence.
This remarkable incident illustrates that two years of intense conflict have done little to mend a nation that was already deeply split before the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. Moreover, it marks Tomer-Yerushalmi as the most recent in a lengthy list of high-ranking security officials who have exited or been ousted from their positions, with most being succeeded by individuals deemed loyal to Netanyahu and his hardline administration.
Outrage over the leak diverts attention from serious abuse at the core of the case.
During a court session on Monday, the judge announced that Tomer-Yerushalmi’s custody would be prolonged until Wednesday on allegations of fraud, breach of trust, and hindering justice. As inquiries into her conduct proceed, she is currently detained in a women’s prison in central Israel.
Israeli news sources indicated that former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomesh had also been detained in connection with the leak case. The prime minister’s office has declined to provide any comments regarding Solomesh’s arrest.
The outrage concerning the leaked footage underscores the extent of division within Israel — and, at least for the time being, it keeps both the media and public’s attention centered on the leak rather than the claims of abuse.
The attack took place on July 5, 2024, at the Sde Teiman military facility, as indicated in the formal charges against the implicated soldiers. The Associated Press has conducted a review of claims regarding cruel treatment and mistreatment at Sde Teiman that occurred before those depicted in the surveillance footage.
The footage, which has been shown by Israeli media outlets, depicts soldiers escorting a detainee into a section they enclosed with shields, seemingly to conceal their actions. The charges allege that the soldiers assaulted the Palestinian detainee and committed sodomy with a knife, resulting in several injuries.
A medical professional acquainted with the situation, who requested anonymity due to safety concerns, stated that the detainee arrived at a civilian hospital in a critical state, suffering from blunt force injuries to both the abdomen and chest, along with broken ribs.
He indicated that the detainee had surgery to repair a perforated rectum and was returned to Sde Teiman shortly after. The medical professional noted that this was the most severe case of abuse he had encountered at Sde Teiman.
When military police visited Sde Teiman in July to apprehend the soldiers suspected of the abuse, they clashed with demonstrators who opposed the arrests. Subsequently, numerous aggressive protesters stormed the detention facility.
In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi stated that she had revealed evidence of the abuse to challenge the perception that the military was unfairly prosecuting its own personnel. She asserted that this perception posed a threat to the military’s enforcement of the law, referencing the break-in incident.
She mentioned that the military had an obligation to pursue an investigation whenever there is reasonable grounds to suspect violence against a detainee.
“Regrettably, this fundamental notion — that certain actions must never be taken, even against the most despicable of detainees — is no longer universally accepted,” she expressed.
The Palestinian detainee involved in the alleged abuse featured in the video was returned to Gaza last month as part of a transaction involving living hostages and Palestinian inmates, based on documents acquired from the military prosecutor’s office by the AP.
The case remains unresolved in the military court.
A network of legal challenges
Yohanan Plesner, president of the Jerusalem-based think tank Israel Democracy Institute, stated that three distinct legal matters need to be addressed in connection with Israel’s inquiry into the events at Sde Teiman.
The first matter concerns evidence suggesting that Israeli soldiers mistreated Palestinian detainees during their incarceration. The second issue pertains to whether Israeli civilians, including members of the parliament, attempted to obstruct the investigation by forcibly entering the military base where the accused soldiers were detained. The third point focuses on whether Tomer-Yerushalmi allegedly engaged in various offenses, such as fraud, to hinder the probe into how the surveillance footage was disclosed to the press.
According to Plesner, the heated rhetoric of the last few days is similar to what was happening in Israel just prior to the incident on October 7 that started the war in Gaza. The public’s opinion of Netanyahu’s efforts to reform the judiciary was sharply divided at the time.
According to Plesner, the Israeli public’s worry about Tomer-Yerushalmi’s destiny for a few hours on Sunday night should act as a “stop sign” for commentators who made fun of her personally. “It was very sad to see how the internal discourse can bring about such potentially tragic outcome on a personal level,” Plesner stated.
He indicated that it was particularly significant that Tomer-Yerushalmi was present in the courtroom while the Israeli government conducted its formal commemoration for the 30th year since the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Many see the murder as the most despairing moment for Israel concerning societal divides and provocation within the Israeli community, and there are concerns that the shocking occurrences over the weekend signal a return to a time of similar internal conflict in Israel.
“It was quite disheartening to witness how internal dialogue can lead to such potentially tragic consequences on a personal scale,” Plesner stated. “There exists a manner of discussing our disagreements within a democratic framework.”
