In a dramatic announcement on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said a criminal investigation had been launched into the leaking of surveillance video from the Sde Teiman detention facility that purported to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.
Due to the investigation, which is probing individuals at the Military Advocate General’s office, the IDF’s top lawyer Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi went on indefinite leave.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had ordered the opening of the criminal probe after new information was recently received regarding the leak, and following consultations with the state attorney and head of the police’s investigations division, her office said in a statement.
The investigation was being carried out by the Israel Police with support from the State Attorney’s Office, and not the army.
Military Advocate General Tomer-Yerushalmi requested leave “until further details on the matter are clarified,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has approved her request.
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According to the IDF, the possible involvement of individuals at the Military Advocate General’s office in the distribution of the video aired by Channel 12 news in August 2024 was being examined as part of the investigation.
The investigation was also looking into the suspicion that Tomer-Yerushalmi was aware that the video was leaked to Channel 12.
Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL)
The leaked footage showed soldiers at Sde Teiman taking aside one of the detainees, who had been lying face down on the floor, then surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility while they allegedly committed the abuse. The detainee was subsequently taken away for treatment for severe injuries.
During a hearing at the High Court earlier this year, an attorney for one of the suspects in the abuse case claimed that the video had been edited from footage from two separate days, one of which the victim was not even present for.
Coalition lawmakers have condemned the leaked video, claiming it was a “blood libel” against the soldiers, and demanded an investigation into how the video was leaked to Channel 12.
חשיפה של כתב המשפט של חדשות 12, גיא פלג, הערב ב”מהדורה המרכזית”: כך תועדו החשודים בפרשת שדה תימן | במצ”ח ממשיכים לחקור את החיילים שנעצרו בחשד להתעללות במחבל חמאס, והערב פורסם התיעוד שעומד במרכז החקירה • כפי שניתן לראות בתיעוד ממצלמות האבטחה במקום, המחבל נלקח הצידה בידי לוחמי כוח… pic.twitter.com/iwgSnq8VHm
— שאולי????️????️???? ShAuLi (@Shaulirena) August 6, 2024
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said he “welcomes and supports” the decision to launch the criminal probe. “This is a serious affair that created a blood libel against IDF soldiers in Israel and around the world, and it must be thoroughly examined and investigated,” he said.
“The military advocate general will not return to her position as long as the affair is under investigation, and once it concludes, we will act in accordance with the findings,” Katz added.
A heated argument erupts between soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel after Military Police investigators arrived to detain suspects for questioning, July 29, 2024. (Screenshot: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Other right-wing lawmakers, including Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot, voiced their support for the probe on Wednesday.
Sukkot was one of dozens of far-right activists and lawmakers who rioted at the Sde Teiman base following the arrests of the soldiers. He was summoned for questioning by the police on Monday.
Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot protests against the detention of Israeli reserve soldiers accused of severely abusing a terror suspect, at the Sde Teiman military base near Beersheba, July 29, 2024. (Dudu Greenspan/Flash90)
Lawyers for two of the reservists who were indicted in the abuse case demanded military prosecutors drop charges against their clients amid the investigation into the leaked video.
Moshe Polsky, on behalf of the right-wing legal aid organization Honenu, condemned the passing of surveillance footage to Channel 12, calling it a “vile leak that endangered the hostages and caused severe damage to Israel’s international reputation.” He called on IDF chief Zamir to suspend everyone under his command connected to the Sde Teiman investigation.
Earlier this year, military prosecutors filed an indictment against five reserve soldiers for the abuse.
The high-profile investigation into the abuse caused outrage among coalition politicians, government ministers, and right-wing activists. When the reservists were detained on July 29, 2024, dozens broke into the detention facility and another army base in an attempt to thwart the arrests.
IDF reserve soldiers suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility attend a hearing at the Beit Lid military court, August 6, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
According to the indictment, the five soldiers severely beat and assaulted the prisoner after he was brought to the detention facility on July 5, 2024, leaving him with severe injuries, including broken ribs and an internal tear in his rectum.
The IDF said the indictment was based on a Military Police investigation, including “extensive medical records and authentic visual documentation from the security cameras in the detention facility.”
The military opened a detention facility at a base located in Sde Teiman in southern Israel, amid an influx in Palestinian detainees as the war in Gaza proceeded, to hold Gazans suspected of terror activities. Various reports have alleged widespread misconduct and abuse at the site, including extreme use of physical restraints, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments and more.
This led the army to launch a number of investigations related to incidents at the facility. Earlier this year, an IDF reservist who served as a guard at Sde Teiman during the war in Gaza was sentenced to seven months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees, in a plea deal in a separate case.
Blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)
Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, Sde Teiman has been used to hold more than 1,000 detainees from Gaza who were suspected of terrorist activity. Many were suspected of taking part in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, though some were arrested during the subsequent IDF campaign in Gaza.
A petition was filed last year to the High Court of Justice demanding the facility be shut down over the accusations. In a ruling in September 2024, the court warned the state that it must abide by the law, but did not order the government to shut the prison.
The court noted in its final decision that conditions at Sde Teiman had changed significantly since the motion was filed. Amid the legal pressure, the government vastly reduced the number of detainees held at the facility.
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