Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi once held one of the Israeli army’s most powerful positions — the top legal advisor trusted to oversee sensitive military investigations. Now, she’s sitting in a prison cell, accused of betraying the very system she served.
According to The Associated Press, the 52-year-old officer’s dramatic fall from grace began with her quiet confession: she had authorized the release of a surveillance video showing Israeli soldiers brutally assaulting a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman military base.
The video, which revealed what prosecutors called “acts of extreme abuse,” was leaked to the press last year — a decision Tomer-Yerushalmi said was meant to “reveal the truth” about a case her office was investigating.
Instead, the leak ignited a political firestorm. Right-wing lawmakers and pundits accused her of disloyalty, claiming she had sabotaged Israel’s military at a time of war. Within days, she resigned. Then, she disappeared.
Her abandoned car and a cryptic note near a Tel Aviv beach set off panic — and speculation. Security forces deployed drones and search teams fearing she might have taken her own life. Hours later, she was found alive, dazed but unharmed.
Rather than sympathy, her return sparked fresh outrage. “We can resume the lynch,” wrote right-wing TV personality and Netanyahu ally Yinon Magal on X, punctuating his message with a winking emoji.
On Monday, the situation escalated even further. Tomer-Yerushalmi appeared in court, where a judge ordered her detained until Wednesday on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, and obstruction of justice. Investigators now claim she may have destroyed evidence connected to the leak.
Former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomesh was also arrested, though the government has remained silent on his involvement.
The controversy has become a mirror for Israel’s deepening divisions. Once a respected figure known for her integrity, Tomer-Yerushalmi is now being cast either as a whistleblower who tried to expose wrongdoing — or a reckless insider who broke the law for political ends.
In her resignation letter, she defended her actions as a stand for justice. “There are actions which must never be taken, even against the vilest of detainees,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, this basic understanding no longer convinces everyone.”
The detainee at the center of the scandal — who suffered life-threatening injuries in the assault — was released to Gaza months later in a prisoner exchange, according to military documents.
Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said the chaos surrounding Tomer-Yerushalmi’s downfall highlights a country still reeling from internal strife.
“It was very sad to see how the internal discourse can bring about such potentially tragic outcome on a personal level,” Plesner said, warning that Israel’s political climate increasingly mirrors the toxic divisions that preceded the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
As she sits in detention, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s fate remains uncertain — but her story has already become a cautionary tale about power, politics, and what happens when truth collides with loyalty in a country at war with itself.
