Elham Asaad Buaras
The Israeli military’s top legal official, Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has resigned after admitting she authorised the leak of video evidence showing the gang rape of a Palestinian detainee, an act that exposed a deep rift over wartime conduct and ignited a political firestorm.
Her departure on November 1 comes amid mounting evidence of systematic abuse at the Sde Teiman detention centre, where the assault occurred, and after facing what she described in her resignation letter as an “illegitimate and false campaign of delegitimization” from far-right ministers.
The graphic surveillance footage, leaked to Channel 12 news in August 2024, shows soldiers at Sde Teiman grabbing and leading away a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner before surrounding him with riot shields to obscure the view. The subsequent indictment detailed a 15-minute assault where soldiers “kicked the detainee, stomped on him, stood on his body, hit him and pushed him all over his body, including with clubs, dragged his body along the ground, and used a taser gun on him, including on his head.”
The victim suffered devastating injuries. According to medical information obtained by Haaretz, he sustained a ruptured bowel, severe anal and lung injuries, and broken ribs, later requiring surgery.
The decision to investigate the rape provoked immediate fury from Israel’s far-right. When military police questioned soldiers, protesters including Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu stormed the Sde Teiman base in support of the accused.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir directly targeted Tomer-Yerushalmi, writing, “The Military Advocate General, take your hands off the reservists!” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was equally vocal, writing on social media that the alleged rapists should be treated like “heroes, not villains.” Smotrich also demanded “an immediate criminal investigation to locate the leakers of the trending video that was intended to harm the reservists and that caused tremendous damage to Israel in the world.”
Despite the evidence, the military prosecution later indicted only five soldiers, not for rape, but for “severely abusing” the detainee. A United Nations commission reviewed this change, determining that the decision to downgrade the indictments, despite the evidence, “will inevitably result in a more lenient punishment” if there is a conviction.
The incident and the political reaction have been cited by major human rights organizations as evidence of a system designed to avoid accountability.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has repeatedly accused Israel of “systemic impunity” for abuses against Palestinians. In their reporting, they have consistently argued that the Israeli military justice system fails to independently investigate high-level policies or hold perpetrators accountable for grave crimes, often dismissing the most severe allegations in a way that shields officials.
Similarly, Amnesty International has documented and condemned what it describes as a widespread pattern of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees. In a recent report, Amnesty stated that Israel’s actions in detention facilities, including Sde Teiman, point to “a harrowing pattern of torture, including severe beatings, humiliation, and sexual violence,” which it classifies as war crimes. The organization has condemned the political protection of abusers and the intimidation of legal officials as a key barrier to justice.
The incident at Sde Teiman appears far from isolated. A UN report noted that detainees at the facility – including children – were “regularly shackled, forced into stress positions, denied toilets and showers and beaten.” The report stated some were subjected to sexual violence, including “the insertion of objects, electric shocks and rape.”
Further grim evidence emerged last month when Israel returned the bodies of Palestinians held in its custody. At least 135 of the “mutilated” corpses, according to Palestinian officials, had been held at Sde Teiman. Several “had been left with blindfolds on, and some had their hands still tied behind their back. One had a rope around its neck.”
In her resignation statement, Tomer-Yerushalmi defended her actions, stating she leaked the footage to counter “false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities.” She expressed deep concern over the political climate, lamenting that the “basic understanding, that there are actions which must never be taken even against the vilest of detainees, no longer convinces everyone.”
Her critics were swift to celebrate her departure. Defence Minister Israel Katz, who had forced her leave, stated, “Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army’s uniform.” Ben-Gvir welcomed the move, calling for wider accountability, while Smotrich accused her and the judiciary of launching what he called an “anti-Semitic blood libel” against their military.
The resignation of the military’s top lawyer underscores a profound conflict within Israel, pitting the mechanisms of legal accountability against a powerful political faction that views such scrutiny as an act of betrayal. The trial of the five soldiers accused of abuse continues.
Feature photo: Israel’s top military lawyer, Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, resigned on November 1 after admitting she authorised the leak of video evidence showing the gang rape of a Palestinian detainee (Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit/CC)
