Top military lawyer arrested after she admits leaking film of abuse by Israeli soldiers

Police in Israel have arrested and detained the military's top legal officer after she admitted leaking footage of soldiers allegedly attacking a Palestinian detainee.

- Emma Graham-Harrison

The military advocate general, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, said in a resignation letter last week that she had authorised publication of the video to defuse attacks on military investigators and prosecutors working on the case.

Rightwing politicians and pundits championed the soldiers detained over the case as "heroes", attacked military investigators as traitors, and called for the case against the soldiers to be dropped.

Tomer-Yerushalmi has now been arrested on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice and disclosure of official information by a public servant, Israeli media reported.

Her arrest and detention raise serious questions about the rule of law in Israel, accountability for the abuse and killing of Palestinians during what a UN commission has called a genocidal war, and the country's ability to defend itself in international courts.

In July 2024 prosecutors raided the Sde Teiman military detention centre, which has become notorious for torture, and detained 11 soldiers for interrogation.

They were suspects in a violent assault on a Palestinian from Gaza, including anal rape. The victim was hospitalised with injuries including broken ribs, a punctured lung and rectal damage, according to the indictment, and Tomer-Yerushalmi launched an investigation.

The government and far-right politicians and pundits have accused her of damaging Israel's global standing by pursing the case and releasing the video, in effect casting her efforts to prosecute extreme violence as a project to undermine the state.

"The incident in Sde Teiman caused immense damage to the image of the state of Israel and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]," the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday.