Pro-Netanyahu TV network takes down report on former top IDF lawyer after confronting her neighbour by mistake

The footage in question emerged in 2024 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 both Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz called them a “blood libel”. Some also claimed that the video had been edited in a misleading manner, though this has not been proven.

Tomer-Yerushalmi subsequently sparked a police manhunt after disappearing following her resignation, with her car found abandoned containing what Hebrew media described as a “suicide note”.

She was later found unharmed on a beach in Tel Aviv and placed under house arrest, during which she was hospitalised after reportedly making an attempt to take her own life.

She was also formally dismissed by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who said he would ensure she did not qualify for any financial benefits related to her army career.

During his interaction with the unnamed woman, the Channel 14 journalist asked if she was “on her way to a plea bargain” and if she wanted to “apologise to the soldiers of Force 100,” referring to the guard unit whose members were accused of perpetrating the alleged abuse.

Five members of the unit were indicted over the incident, but Tomer-Yerushalmi’s successor, Major General Itai Ofir, confirmed in March that the charges against them had been dropped.

The woman refused to engage with the questions and did not clarify her identity, saying: “I'm not giving an interview.”

Channel 14 anchor Maggie Tabibi called her response a “deafening silence” at the end of the segment.

However, Daniel Amram, an independent data journalist, has since come forward to say that he contacted the woman and that she is, in fact, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s neighbour.

According to Amram, she did not realise she had been mistaken for Tomer-Yerushalmi and thought the reporter was trying to ask her about the former IDF lawyer's case.

Channel 14 subsequently confirmed it had taken down the report to examine “doubts that arose” but insisted that its journalist acted responsibly in identifying the woman, saying she strongly resembled Tomer-Yerushalmi and responded to her name.

Tomer-Yerushalmi remains suspected of obstruction of justice, fraud and breach of trust, providing false information to the High Court of Justice and forgery.