Army lawyer defends decision to publish alleged abuse video
We’ve been reporting this afternoon about the dismissal of the Israeli army’s top lawyer, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, over a video which was leaked last year showing a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman detention facility allegedly being sexually assaulted by Israeli troops.
Tomer-Yerushalmi has given her account in a letter, stressing that even though she believed the detainees to be “terrorists”, that “does not detract from our duty to investigate when there is reasonable basis to suspect an act of violence against a detainee”.
She said that officers in the Israeli army’s legal department had already been under great pressure and a campaign of delegitimisation prior to the Sde Teiman incident, but that the pressure “reached its peak” when they decided to investigate it. Their loyalties to their fellow soldiers were questioned, she said.
She said the video was released to the media to counter the pressure her department was facing from other soldiers. “I approved the release of material to the media, in an attempt to repel the false propaganda against law enforcement bodies in the military.”
Israel seeks new top military lawyer with focus on ‘protecting soldiers’
Israel’s defence minister and military chief have announced they will appoint a new top military lawyer capable of meeting “significant challenges”, with the “protection of IDF soldiers” named as the foremost priority.
The joint statement from Defense Minister Israel Katz and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir on Friday came hours after they dismissed Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi for leaking a video showing alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman.
Tomer-Yerushalmi had defended investigating the abuse, saying even detainees she considered “terrorists” should not face violence.
Red Cross denies Israeli claims that Palestinian detainee visits threaten security
The International Committee of the Red Cross has rejected Israeli allegations that visits to Palestinian detainees pose a security threat.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz banned the ICRC from visiting Palestinians held under a law allowing indefinite detention. Katz said the visits, halted since the Gaza war began, would “seriously harm the state’s security”.
But ICRC director-general Pierre Krahenbuhl said on Friday there was “no way in which our visits can pose a security threat or a national security threat” to Israel.
The truth coming out is a national security threat to Israel.
