The Israeli military’s top legal officer, Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has resigned after admitting to leaking disturbing footage showing the gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility. The shocking revelation has ignited international outrage and renewed scrutiny over Israel’s treatment of detainees.
Reports indicate that Tomer-Yerushalmi, who had initially gone missing amid the investigation, was later detained alongside another senior legal official. The situation has sparked political and public turmoil, with reactions in Israel and abroad sharply divided.
Speaking to VOC News, Jeff Halper, head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and author of War Against the People, described the unfolding events as “very complex.”
“Yeah, they’re all true. There were suspicions she disappeared for a while, some even thought she had taken her own life,” Halper explained. “She did release the tape of this more-than-rape, this assault on the Palestinian prisoner. It’s not clear, but I think she felt it had to get out and that the system wouldn’t allow it.”
Halper added that while Tomer-Yerushalmi’s actions violated several military procedures and possibly laws, her motivation may have stemmed from moral outrage. “She didn’t commit suicide, obviously, but there’s suspicion she threw her phone into the sea ,and that’s where much of the evidence was,” he said. “She was then arrested, and a hearing followed.”
The footage, which reportedly shows Israeli soldiers assaulting a blindfolded detainee, has drawn condemnation from human rights groups worldwide. However, inside Israel, Halper noted, public discussion has focused less on the assault itself and more on Tomer-Yerushalmi’s breach of protocol.
“The world’s reaction is properly to the assault, this terrible attack on a Palestinian prisoner,” Halper said. “But here in Israel, the issue is that she violated the law. Netanyahu even said her releasing the tape was the ‘worst form of PR’ Israel has ever received. It’s not the assault that outrages them, it’s that the truth came out.”
The incident underscores growing tensions within Israel’s judicial and military institutions, as debates over accountability, transparency, and human rights continue to intensify.
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VOC News
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