Israeli military’s top lawyer resigns over leak of video allegedly showing abuse of Palestinian detainee

The Israeli military’s top lawyer has resigned after saying that she was responsible for the leaking of a video that purportedly shows soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.

Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military advocate general, had been on leave since a criminal investigation was launched by police earlier this week into how the surveillance video at the Sde Teiman detention facility was leaked.

Five reserve soldiers have been charged over the incident.

Before her resignation, Defence Minister Israel Katz had said Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi would not be allowed to return to her post.

Warning: this story contains a description of alleged sexual abuse

In her resignation letter, Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi said she took full responsibility for any material that was released to the media from the unit.

“I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army’s law enforcement authorities,” she said.

That is a reference to efforts by some right-wing political figures in Israel to claim that the video and reports of abuse of detainees were fabricated.

Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi went on: “It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee.”

After her resignation was accepted by the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Katz put out a statement welcoming the decision.

“Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army’s uniform,” he said.

The leaked video was broadcast on the Israeli Channel 12 news in August 2024.

The footage shows soldiers at Sde Teiman taking aside a detainee, then surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility while was stabbed in the rectum with a sharp object. The detainee was treated for severe injuries.

After Israeli military police went to Sde Teiman to question 11 reservists over the incident, far-right protesters broke into the facility to show their support.

Five reservists were subsequently charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm to the detainee. They have denied the charges.

Right-wing politicians in Israel, however, condemned the leaking of the video as attempt to defame the Israeli military.

The video was seen as concrete evidence backing up multiple reports of abuse of Palestinian detainees since the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

Last year, a report by a UN commission of inquiry alleged that thousands of child and adult detainees from Gaza had been “subjected to widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence, and sexual and gender-based violence amounting to the war crime and crime against humanity of torture and the war crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence”.

Israel’s government said it rejected the accusations of widespread ill-treatment and torture of detainees, and insisted that it was “fully committed to international legal standards”. It also said it had carried out thorough investigations into every complaint.