The Worst Enemy Is the Enemy From Within.

Israeli authorities arrested Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the former chief legal officer of the Israeli military, on November 3, 2025, after she admitted to leaking a secret surveillance video showing Israeli soldiers allegedly abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility. Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned days before her arrest, taking responsibility for the leak that has triggered a major political and legal controversy within Israel.

The footage, which was first broadcast in August 2024, depicts blindfolded and restrained Palestinian detainees being surrounded by soldiers holding riot shields to block camera views. The video shows one detainee suffering severe physical and sexual abuse, including injuries that required hospitalization for broken ribs, punctured lungs, and internal rectal tears. Five reservist soldiers involved have been charged with aggravated assault causing severe bodily harm, though they deny the charges and have demanded the case be dismissed, claiming it is a biased legal proceeding.

The leak has sparked a fierce political firestorm in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the video release as “perhaps the most severe propaganda attack” Israel has faced since its founding, focusing on the damage to the state’s image rather than the abuse itself. Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Tomer-Yerushalmi of spreading false allegations and declared she was unfit to serve in the military. Meanwhile, Tomer-Yerushalmi stated in her resignation letter that she leaked the video to counter misleading narratives from right-wing politicians and to uphold the military’s duty to investigate detainee mistreatment—an obligation she said has increasingly been denied or ignored.

The case highlights deep divisions in Israeli society, pitting far-right factions defending the accused soldiers against critics who view the leak as a crucial act of accountability exposing systemic mistreatment. Human rights organizations and international observers have long reported on abuses in Israeli detention centers, with the United Nations noting ongoing violations and deaths among Palestinian prisoners since the escalation of the Gaza conflict in 2023.