Former high Israeli army authorized officer arrested after admitting to leaking video of alleged detainee abuse

The previous high authorized officer in Israel’s army has been arrested after admitting that she licensed the leak of a video that seems to point out Israeli troopers attacking a Palestinian detainee in a detention facility final 12 months.

Main Normal Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi served as Navy Advocate Normal of the Israel Protection Forces till Friday, Oct. 31, when she admitted in a resignation letter to having authorised the leak of the video clip to Israeli media.

She referred to as her actions, “an try to counter the false propaganda directed towards the army regulation enforcement authorities,” following a backlash by members of Israel’s far-right towards her division’s investigation into alleged abuse of a Palestinian prisoner.

Israeli media have reported that Tomer-Yerushalmi is about to be questioned by investigators, and that she may face expenses together with obstruction to justice. Till lately, the division she led was conducting an investigation into the identical video leak.

The leaked video in query, which was launched to media retailers in August 2024, triggered shockwaves of condemnation in Israel and overseas. The safety digital camera clip was recorded within the Sde Teiman army detention middle, and the IDF has not disputed its authenticity. It exhibits Israeli troopers carrying a blindfolded detainee behind a wall of private shields seemingly fashioned by different troopers to obscure the view of the safety cameras.

Following the discharge of the video, 5 Israeli troopers had been arrested and charged with aggravated battery for extreme damage to a detainee of their custody. 

In line with a doc detailing the costs, the troopers kicked, dragged, stepped on and tasered the detainee. The Palestinian man was admitted to a hospital with fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a rectal tear after the incident. 

The investigation into the alleged assault is ongoing.

The arrests prompted offended demonstrations in assist of the accused troopers, notably with a crowd gathering and breaking into the Sde Teiman facility. Israeli media stated three members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, had been current at that protest. A second facility, the place the troopers had been being questioned, was additionally stormed by protesters.

In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi stated there had been a “false marketing campaign of delegitimization” concentrating on her division, the function of which is to uphold the regulation inside the IDF.

“This harmful marketing campaign reached its peak following the choice to research the Sde Teiman affair,” Tomer-Yerushalmi stated. 

She additionally stated there had been “extreme allegations suggesting that we favor terrorists over our personal troops” in the course of the investigation into the assault on the detention middle.

The fury amongst Israelis at Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 assault has fueled opposition in lots of quarters to investigations into the actions of the nation’s safety forces and Tomer-Yerushalmi was publicly criticized by senior members of the Israeli authorities in the course of the inquiry she then led. 

Shortly after her resignation on Friday, Protection Minister Israel Katz launched an announcement welcoming her departure, including: “Anybody who spreads blood libels towards IDF troops is unfit to put on the military’s uniform.” 

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the scandal was “maybe probably the most extreme propaganda assault that the State of Israel has skilled since its institution.”

When approached concerning the arrest of the previous high army lawyer, the Israeli nationwide police declined to remark, noting that the investigation was nonetheless ongoing.

Palestinians launched from Israeli prisons because the U.S.-brokered peace plan got here into impact in Gaza have claimed vital abuse by the hands of their jailers. The United Nations stated in September that a minimum of 75 Palestinians had died in Israeli detention because the battle in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault. 

Some far-right members of the Israeli authorities have vowed to make the nation’s detention facilities much less hospitable, together with Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who’s in control of prisons within the nation, who vowed they’d not be “summer season camps” underneath his watch.

CBS Information’ Michal Ben-Gal and Ofir Rosenblum contributed to this report.