Israel’s former top military lawyer, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, was arrested late on Sunday after being reported missing for most of the day. She was found safe and in good health in Herzliya that evening following a large-scale search operation. The former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Advocate General faces multiple charges, including fraud, breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice, and disclosure of information as a public servant.
Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned on Friday and admitted to authorizing the release of video footage depicting Israeli reserve soldiers from Force 100 allegedly committing violent acts against a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman, a facility described as a torture prison. In her resignation letter, she stated that she took full responsibility for the material released to the media. She claimed her motivation was to counter what she called “false propaganda” by far-right figures who dismissed the alleged abuse as a “blood libel,” a term used to falsely label criticism as antisemitic.
Following her disappearance, concerns were raised about her safety, with fears that she may have attempted suicide or faced potential assassination. As a result, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israel Prison Service (IPS) Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi ordered increased surveillance for Tomer-Yerushalmi. According to reports, this includes additional guards and security cameras monitoring her cell.
In addition to Tomer-Yerushalmi, former military prosecutor Matan Solomesh was also arrested in connection with the leaked video. Palestinian human rights activist Ihab Hassan noted on social media that the soldiers seen in the footage remain free.
On July 4, 2024, members of Force 100 reportedly assaulted a Palestinian detainee for approximately 15 minutes behind riot shields, preventing cameras from capturing the act. The victim sustained severe injuries, including anal trauma, a ruptured bowel, broken ribs, and lung damage, according to Dr. Yoel Donchin, an Israeli physician at the facility. The footage of the assault was later broadcast on Israeli television.
While human rights organizations called for an investigation into the incident, Israeli officials such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded a probe not to seek justice for the victim, but rather to identify and punish those responsible for leaking the video. After some individuals were arrested, a group of far-right Israelis, including senior government officials, attempted to storm military bases to free the suspects. While some criticized the alleged assault, others supported the accused reservists.
Ben-Gvir referred to the suspects as “our best heroes,” while Smotrich praised them as “heroic warriors.” Some right-wing politicians and commentators argued that IDF troops should be allowed to commit acts of rape, torture, and murder against Palestinians as retribution for the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
Numerous accounts from former Palestinian prisoners, IDF soldiers, and Israeli medical professionals describe widespread abuse and torture at Sde Teiman and other facilities. Victims have ranged in age from children to octogenarians. Medical personnel have documented severe injuries resulting from prolonged shackling, electrocution, dog attacks, denial of food and water, sleep deprivation, and other forms of abuse.
At least dozens of detainees have died in Israeli custody, with some cases involving alleged sexual violence, including one death attributed to being sodomized with an electric baton. Bodies of returned Palestinian prisoners have shown signs of torture, execution, and mutilation.
The IDF confirmed in February that it had filed charges against five reservists suspected of abusing prisoners at Sde Teiman.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing charges at the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, condemned Tomer-Yerushalmi for exposing alleged abuses within the IDF. He described the leak as “perhaps the most severe public relations attack that the state of Israel has experienced since its establishment.”
The statement came amid ongoing violence in Gaza, where more than 249,000 people have been reported dead, injured, or missing, with many others displaced, sick, or starving, according to local and international sources.
While some view Tomer-Yerushalmi as a whistleblower, others have pointed to her resignation letter, in which she claimed the IDF is a “moral and law-abiding army,” as evidence that she supports or condones Israel’s actions in Gaza.
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