Former Israeli army chief of staff, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has been arrested, as political tensions in Israel deepen after a video was leaked showing severe violence against a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers.
Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned last week as the attorney general of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), taking responsibility for the release of the video. On Sunday, she was reported missing, prompting an hours-long search operation on a beach north of Tel Aviv. Hours later, police confirmed that she had been found alive and well, but she was arrested shortly thereafter.
The video, broadcast in August 2024 by an Israeli channel, showed reservists at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel taking a Palestinian detainee and surrounding him with shields to block the cameras' view, before beating and torturing him with a sharp object. The detainee was treated for serious injuries.
Five reservists have been charged with “gross abuse and causing serious physical harm,” but they deny the charges. On Sunday, four of them appeared in black masks before the High Court in Jerusalem, accompanied by their lawyers, who asked for the case to be dismissed.
Lawyer Adi Keidar, from the right-wing organization "Honenu", accused the authorities of a "false, biased and fabricated process".
Meanwhile, it was revealed on Monday that the Palestinian detainee at the center of the case had been released in October and sent to Gaza as part of a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas.
After the video was leaked, a criminal investigation was launched. Tomer-Yerushalmi was suspended from her post, and Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that she would not be reinstated. She resigned shortly after, saying in her letter that she “takes full responsibility for any material published in the media by the relevant unit.”
She added that she had approved the publication of the materials "to counter false propaganda against the military's legal authorities," referring to claims by some right-wing politicians that the allegations of abuse against the detainee were fabricated.
After her resignation, Minister Katz reacted sharply: “Anyone who slanders IDF troops is not worthy of wearing the army uniform,” he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident “perhaps the most serious attack on the image of the state of Israel since its founding.”
Hours later, Israeli media reported the general's disappearance, sparking fears of a tragic end to the political scandal. She was later found "safe and in good health" in Herzliya, according to police.
Later, police announced the arrest of two people on suspicion of “information leaks and other serious criminal offenses.” According to Israeli media, the arrested are Major General Tomer-Yerushalmi herself and former military prosecutor Colonel Matan Solomosh.
