The IDF’s top lawyer, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has quit her role as the military’s advocate-general after admitting her part in leaking footage of soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee.
Tomer-Yerushalmi offered her resignation to IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir this morning, an army spokesperson confirmed.
She had been on leave since earlier this week, when a criminal investigation into the leak was launched.
In her resignation letter, she wrote: “I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter the false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities.
"I bear full responsibility for any material that was released to the media from within the unit...from this responsibility also stems my decision to conclude my tenure as military advocate-general.”
Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation came hours after Defence Minister Israel Katz had pledged to sack her following calls from a group of MKs accusing her of being behind the leak.
The footage in question emerged last year and purportedly showed troops beating and sexually assaulting a prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility last July.
The man was obscured from surveillance cameras by soldiers holding riot shields, but was reportedly treated for severe injuries, including damage to his rectum.
The allegations drew widespread outrage and calls for an investigation into the soldiers’ conduct, though some far-right lawmakers condemned the leak and claimed the video “defamed” troops. Some also claimed that the video had been edited in a misleading manner, though this has not been proven.
Five soldiers were indicted for assault in February, though prosecutors dropped the charges of aggravated sodomy against them. The men have denied all charges.
The probe also led to an incident in which a mob, allegedly including some far-right MKs, stormed the detention centre in protest at the arrests of nine soldiers, four of whom were never charged. A police investigation into that matter is ongoing.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said there was “no dispute” that Tomer-Yerushalimi had to resign, saying: “She committed acts that harm the IDF and the public’s trust in it. No one is above the law. And that binds everyone.”
And former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the leak a “very severe incident that subverts Israel’s public trust in senior commanders of the IDF”.
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