A leaked video, a frantic search, and the top military lawyer: What to know about the scandal rocking Israel

By Tal Shalev, CNN

Jerusalem (CNN) — Less than a week ago, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was the Israeli military’s top lawyer, tasked with enforcing the rule of law within the nation’s armed forces.

Now, she is under arrest as part of a criminal investigation into the leak of a video showing the alleged abuse, including sexual abuse, of Palestinian detainees in a notorious Israeli military prison.

A longstanding target of Israel’s right-wing, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s rapid fall has quickly emerged as a national scandal, overshadowing the video at the center of the case.

The affair dates back to July 2024, when legal authorities in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) opened an investigation into soldiers who were allegedly shown sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee arrested during the Gaza war as some two dozen other detainees lay face-down nearby at the Sde Teiman military prison.

The investigation and subsequent arrest of the soldiers fueled an intense political backlash, with some right-wing members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition even joining protests and riots outside the Sde Teiman facility and the military court where the soldiers were taken.

The video was first aired by Israel’s Channel 12 in August 2024, but it wasn’t the first report to raise concerns about conditions at the base. In May 2024, CNN spoke to three whistleblowers who detailed allegations of abuse at Sde Teiman. A month later, Israel said it would begin phasing out the facility.

But that did little to dull the vitriol targeting the military’s top lawyer.

On Wednesday, Tomer-Yerushalmi was suspended from her role as military advocate-general, as Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav‑Miara announced a criminal investigation into the leak. Two days later, Tomer-Yerushalmi submitted her resignation letter, acknowledging that she approved the release of the video and taking “full responsibility for any material that was released to the media from within the unit.”

She wrote in her letter that an “incitement campaign” against her had reached its peak following the decision to investigate soldiers at Sde Teiman. “This campaign continues to this very day and causes deep and serious harm to the IDF, to its image, and to the resilience of IDF soldiers and their commanders,” she wrote.

“There are things that cannot be done even against the worst of the detainees,” she wrote. “Officers of the (legal) unit have faced repeated personal attacks, harsh insults, and even real threats. All of this because they stood guard over the rule of law in the IDF – together with the commanders and alongside them.”

For Israel’s right-wing political echelon, the resignation and investigation weren’t enough. Hours after Tomer-Yerushalmi stepped down, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he would take “all necessary sanctions against her,” including stripping her of her rank. Katz, who issued no fewer than seven statements against the chief military attorney in less than a week, accused her of involvement in a “blood libel” against the soldiers, even though the veracity of the video has not been questioned, and five soldiers were indicted in February 2025 for the abuse of the detainee. They have denied wrongdoing.

‘Worst PR disaster’ for Israel

Netanyahu called the leak “an enormous reputational blow,” describing it on Sunday as “the worst PR disaster in Israel’s history.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir dubbed the lawyer’s conduct “criminal behavior under a legal guise” and called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the leak.

Then, Tomer-Yerushalmi went missing.

For several hours on Sunday, the Israeli military and police were unable to locate the woman who had, until just days earlier, been the top lawyer for the country’s armed forces. The IDF said in a statement that it would “employ all means available” to locate her “as quickly as possible.”

After an extensive search, she was found on a beach north of Tel Aviv.

On Sunday evening, police arrested Tomer-Yerushalmi on suspicion of multiple offenses: fraud and breach of trust, abuse of official power, obstruction of justice, and disclosure of information by a public official.

She has not been formally charged yet or entered a plea. Her next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. A lawyer representing Tomer-Yerushalmi declined to comment on the case.

Tomer-Yerushalmi is also suspected of allegedly misleading the High Court of Justice, and senior military and justice officials, about the leak of the footage and even submitting a false affidavit to the court. Alongside Tomer-Yerushalmi, other senior legal officials in the military prosecutor’s office are also implicated in the leak and its alleged cover-up. According to the police, there are five suspects in the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian detainee at the center of the alleged abuse has been returned to Gaza as part of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement, raising questions about the prospects of an effective prosecution of the soldiers accused in the case since the alleged victim is not available to testify.

The affair has become a part of a larger attack on Israel’s judiciary from Netanyahu’s coalition. Justice Minister Yariv Levin is attempting to bar Baharav-Miara – also a frequent target of the right wing – from probing the leak, suggesting the attorney general’s own involvement in the case should also be examined. “Anyone involved in conflicts of interest will not be part of the investigation,” Levin insisted in a statement last week.

“The lies that have been built here over the years, while trampling on the rights of entire populations and severely harming the security of the state and IDF soldiers, are gradually falling apart,” said Levin. “One group that has gotten used to treating the country as its own is being replaced.”

Baharav-Miara’s office responded in a letter, saying Levin was trying to “unlawfully interfere” with the investigative process, which “impedes its progress.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.