ALBAWABA - On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had been fired. This was because of claims that she was involved in leaking a video of the brutal abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the infamous Sde Teiman detention center in the Negev Desert.
Gallant said that Tomer-Yerushalmi would not return to her job because of her alleged role in the leak. He stressed that everyone who was involved in what he called the "bloody defamation" of Israeli soldiers in the case would be held responsible.
The Israeli military said in a statement that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has put the military prosecutor on temporary leave while an internal investigation looks into claims that members of the military prosecution were involved in leaking the footage.
The decision comes after an investigation that started earlier this week into a video that was leaked showing Israeli soldiers torturing a Gazan prisoner at the Sde Teiman facility. Israeli news sources said that the investigation started after a member of the military prosecution staff was questioned and given a polygraph test to see if they were connected to the leak.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing sources in law enforcement, said that there are suspicions that people close to the police chief may have leaked the footage. They also said that Tomer-Yerushalmi is expected to testify as part of the ongoing investigation.
The scandal brought back the anger that people felt last summer when Channel 12 showed a video of Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee in Sde Teiman. The event caused a lot of outrage on social media and raised serious concerns about how Palestinian prisoners are treated.
At the time, reports said that the victim had serious physical injuries, such as lung damage, intestinal tears, and broken ribs.
Rights groups have long criticized the Sde Teiman detention center, saying that Israel uses it to hold Palestinians in inhumane conditions and hides the systematic abuse of detainees.
