On November 1, 2025, a seismic event rocked Israel’s military and legal establishment: Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the nation’s top military prosecutor, resigned after admitting she leaked a harrowing video from the Sde Teiman detention facility. The footage, which surfaced in August 2024, exposed Israeli soldiers brutally assaulting—and, as reported by several outlets, raping—a blindfolded Palestinian detainee from Gaza. Her resignation, delivered to Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, has since ignited a political firestorm and brought renewed scrutiny to Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners, the military’s internal accountability, and the country’s ongoing judicial crisis.
According to i24NEWS and Los Angeles Times, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s abrupt departure came just hours after Defense Minister Israel Katz announced she would not be allowed to resume her duties, citing “the severity of the suspicions and the sensitivity of the military advocate general’s role.” The chain of events began with a criminal probe into the leak of the surveillance video, but quickly broadened to include allegations of obstruction of justice—specifically, whether Tomer-Yerushalmi provided false or misleading information to Israel’s State Prosecution and the High Court.
In her resignation statement, Tomer-Yerushalmi acknowledged full responsibility for releasing the video evidence. She wrote, “I take full responsibility for all of the evidence which was sent out to the media by this unit. Based on this, I decided to conclude my role.” She explained that her motivation was to counter what she described as “false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities,” a sentiment echoed in excerpts published by Israeli media. “Unfortunately, this basic understanding—that there are actions which must never be taken even against the vilest of detainees—no longer convinces everyone,” she lamented, highlighting the deepening divisions within Israel’s political and military leadership over issues of accountability and justice.
The video itself, first aired by Israel’s Channel 12 in August 2024, showed a group of soldiers at the Sde Teiman facility grabbing a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner, surrounding him with riot shields, and subjecting him to a prolonged and savage assault. According to the original indictment cited by Haaretz and Al Jazeera, “For 15 minutes, the accused 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.” Medical records confirmed the victim suffered a ruptured bowel, severe anal and lung injuries, broken ribs, and required surgery.
The fallout was immediate and fierce. At least nine soldiers were detained for their alleged roles in the assault, but only five faced continued prosecution. In February 2025, those remaining were indicted for “severely abusing” the detainee—though notably not for rape, despite the explicit evidence. This downgrading of charges drew sharp criticism from a United Nations commission, which warned that the decision “will inevitably result in a more lenient punishment” if there is a conviction.
Far from unifying the country around a call for justice, the revelations fueled a bitter political backlash. Right-wing politicians, including Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, condemned both the arrests of the soldiers and Tomer-Yerushalmi’s actions. Ben-Gvir, in a pointed social media post, demanded, “The Military Advocate General, take your hands off the reservists!” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went further, urging that the accused soldiers be treated as “heroes, not villains,” and called for a criminal investigation into the leak itself, arguing it had caused “tremendous damage to Israel in the world.”
Within hours of Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation, Smotrich accused her and much of Israel’s judicial system of “rank corruption,” even invoking the term “anti-Semitic blood libel” to describe the allegations against the military. Ben-Gvir echoed the call for accountability—not for the abuse, but for the leak—insisting “all those involved in the affair must be held accountable.” Both ministers are outspoken supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial efforts to weaken Israel’s judiciary and reduce its political oversight, a campaign that has polarized Israeli society and drawn international concern.
The Sde Teiman facility itself has become a symbol of these broader controversies. Rights groups and United Nations investigators have repeatedly condemned the treatment of Palestinian detainees there. According to recent reports, at least 135 mutilated bodies returned to Gaza during a ceasefire had been held at Sde Teiman, with many showing signs of execution, torture, and sexual violence. Some bodies were returned with blindfolds still on, hands tied behind their backs, or ropes around their necks. The same UN commission documented that detainees—including children—were shackled, forced into stress positions, denied basic hygiene, beaten, and in some cases subjected to sexual violence, including rape and electric shocks.
Personal testimonies from former detainees paint an even grimmer picture. Akram Al-Basyuni, a Palestinian prisoner freed during a ceasefire, shared his story with the press, describing “torture, death, and humiliation” inside Israeli prisons. Arrested in December 2023 at a school in the Jabalia refugee camp, Al-Basyuni spent nearly two years at Sde Teiman. He recounted, “Many detainees were beaten to the brink of death. When we cried out for help, the guards would respond: ‘Let him die.’ Five minutes later, they would wrap the body in a bag and shut the door.”
Amid this maelstrom, the Israeli military faces a leadership vacuum. Defense Minister Katz announced that Tomer-Yerushalmi’s deputy would not automatically assume her duties, citing an “escalation in tone” between the Defense Ministry and the Military Advocate General’s Corps. Eli Lavertov is reportedly being considered as acting head until a permanent replacement is chosen. Meanwhile, the Attorney General has ordered a formal investigation, and police are expected to question Tomer-Yerushalmi and several senior legal officers in the coming days. The probe now extends beyond the leak itself to suspicions of a cover-up and the submission of false reports to the High Court and Knesset. Former IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari and the military censor may also be called to testify.
For human rights advocates, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation is both a symptom and a catalyst of deeper problems. Her office has long been criticized by rights groups as too lenient on the wartime conduct of Israeli soldiers, while simultaneously facing relentless pressure from politicians to avoid prosecuting alleged abuses. The episode underscores the fraught relationship between Israel’s military, its legal system, and its political leadership—a relationship now under even greater strain as the country grapples with the realities of war, occupation, and international scrutiny.
As investigations proceed and new leadership is sought, the questions raised by this scandal—about accountability, justice, and the rule of law—are unlikely to fade anytime soon.
