TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Israeli police have arrested a former military prosecutor after she leaked a video showing a number of soldiers raping and sodomizing a Palestinian prisoner with a knife.
Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was detained on Monday night, according to Al Jazeera, according to the country's national security minister, following a scandal that unfolded after she leaked the video, resigned, and then disappeared.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the leak of the video possibly the "most severe public relations attack" on Israel since its establishment.
Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted last Friday that she had approved the leak of surveillance video at an investigation center that politically divided over allegations of severe abuse of a Palestinian detainee in the notorious cruel Israeli military prison.
By leaking the video last year, Tomer-Yerushalmi sought to expose the seriousness of the allegations being investigated by her office.
Five Israeli military reserve members were later charged with assaulting the prisoner.
However, it sparked harsh criticism from hardline political leaders in Israel. After Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned under pressure last week, her critics continued to launch personal insults.
She left a secret message for her family and left her car near the beach, leading to concerns she had committed suicide and prompting an intensive search involving the use of military drones.
She was found alive on the beach on Sunday night, triggering even greater hatred toward her.
Extreme Rape
The case began in August 2024 when Israel's Channel 12 broadcast footage from Sde Teiman, which had been used to hold a Palestinian who was abducted during the genocide in Gaza.
The rape occurred on July 5, 2024, in the Sde Teiman military prison, according to allegations against the soldiers accused. As reported by France24, AP investigated the allegations of inhumane treatment and torture in Sde Teiman that occurred prior to the allegations in the surveillance video.
The video broadcasted by the Israeli media showed soldiers bringing a prisoner to an area they covered with shields, apparently to hide their actions. The allegations stated that the soldiers attacked the Palestinian prisoner and sodomized him with a knife, causing severe injuries.
A medical staffer familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of her safety, said the prisoner arrived at a civilian hospital in critical condition with blunt trauma to the abdomen and chest and broken ribs.
She said the prisoner underwent an operation for a perforated rectum and was returned to Sde Teiman a few days later. The staff said it was the most extreme case of torture she knew of from Sde Teiman.
When military police went to Sde Teiman in July to arrest the soldiers allegedly involved in the torture, they clashed with protestors opposing the arrest. Later, hundreds of violent demonstrators broke into the detention center.
In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi wrote that she had revealed evidence of the abuse to refute the notion that the Israeli military unfairly targets its own soldiers. The idea endangered military law enforcement, she said, referring to the prison breach case.
She wrote that the military has a "duty to investigate if there is a reasonable suspicion of violence against a prisoner."
Israel's military said in February that they had filed charges against five reserve soldiers associated with the brutal rape in Sde Teiman.
They were charged with "acting against the prisoner with severe violence, including stabbing the prisoner in the buttocks with a knife, which pierced near his rectum."
It was also added that "the violent actions caused severe physical injuries to the prisoner, including cracked ribs, punctured lungs, and a torn inner rectum damaging his intestines."
Israel's torture and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners have been reported for years. However, their numbers have increased since Israel's recent genocide in Gaza, and some Israeli politicians even defend the practice.
At least 75 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons since October 7, 2023, according to the United Nations.
Even the bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel show signs of torture, many of them having scars on their bodies, or some still wearing blindfolds and handcuffs.
Some bodies lost limbs or teeth, while others appear burned, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
Held Until Wednesday
This rape case is still pending in military court.
Three separate legal issues must be resolved as part of Israel's investigation into what happened in Sde Teiman, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank based in Jerusalem.
The first relates to evidence that Israeli soldiers tortured and raped Palestinian prisoners while they were detained.
The second is whether Israeli civilians, including members of parliament, tried to interfere with the investigation by breaching the military base where the soldiers accused of such acts were detained.
The third is whether Tomer-Yerushalmi is suspected of committing several violations, including fraud, to undermine the investigation into how the surveillance video leaked to the media.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Monday on Telegram: "Given the events last night, the prison service will act with extra caution to ensure the safety of the prisoners in the detention center where he is being held."
The statement did not mention what charges she is facing.
According to Israeli media, the Tel Aviv court ordered Tomer-Yerushalmi's detention until Wednesday afternoon, November 6, 2025.
Kan reported that she is suspected of "fraud and breach of trust, abuse of office, obstructing justice, and disclosure of information by a public servant."
Former military prosecutor Colonel Matan Solomesh was also arrested last night in connection with the case and will appear in court on Monday, according to the Israel Defense Forces Radio report.
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