Ex-MAG set to be released from custody as probe widens, and High Court weighs who will run it

Former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi will reportedly be released on restrictive conditions from police custody on Friday, five days after she went missing on a beach and a week after she admitted to leaking a contentious video, prompting an ongoing controversy that is ensnaring a growing number of officials.

Tomer-Yerushalmi’s impending release, reported by Hebrew media, comes as Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Justice Minister Yariv Levin continue to clash over how the investigation into the leak should proceed.

The footage leaked by the former IDF legal chief purportedly shows the abuse of a Gazan man held in the IDF’s Sde Teiman detention facility. On Thursday, Hebrew media reported that Baharav-Miara was seeking to turn over responsibility for the criminal investigation into the leak to State Attorney Amit Aisman.

But Thursday afternoon, Levin announced that he had formally tapped his own candidate for that role, State Ombudsman for Judge Asher Kula.

Kula issued a statement saying that he accepted the appointment and began working, sending a request to “all officials connected to the issue” asking them for their cooperation.

Before Thursday, Baharav-Miara had hoped to direct the investigation and sought a legal opinion from the Justice Ministry saying she could do so. But in that legal opinion, issued on Thursday, Justice Ministry legal adviser Yael Kotik wrote that the attorney general should, in fact, recuse herself.

Baharav-Miara had been responsible for supervising an earlier, internal investigation into the leak, which recommended in September that no criminal investigation be opened. Kotik reasoned that police may now look into whether that probe intentionally turned a blind eye to Tomer-Yerushalmi, creating a conflict of interest for the attorney general.

“In order to restore public trust, an independent and credible investigation must be guaranteed which examines, without any appearance of a conflict of interest, the extent of the damage caused by this affair, and whether a wider circle of additional parties is involved,” concluded Kotik.

Now, seemingly with no choice but to step aside, Baharav-Miara is expected to inform the High Court of Justice that she has chosen Aisman to run the investigation in response to a petition calling for the attorney general to halt her involvement in the case.

That court will have to decide which appointee, Levin’s or Baharav-Miara’s, gets to oversee the probe, or perhaps a different official altogether from the offices of the attorney general and state attorney.

Meanwhile, Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy has told officers that until the High Court of Justice makes its decision, any information on the investigation should be brought to him, Hebrew media reported.

Following the reports, police issued a statement that Levy ordered the investigation to be conducted in a secret, professional manner, to avoid even more leaks.

Police also searched the Military Advocate General’s office at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv amid the ongoing investigation, Hebrew media outlets reported. The IDF did not comment.

Baharav-Miara’s recusal isn’t the only fallout from the earlier internal probe, which was conducted within the Military Advocate General’s Corps.

The person who ran that probe, Deputy Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Gal Asael, was questioned under caution by the police on Thursday, Channel 13 news reported.

After being questioned, Asael was released to house arrest and suspended from the Military Advocate General Corps. Channel 13 added.

Levin and coalition MKs have implicitly accused Baharav-Miara of being involved in an effort to stymie a criminal investigation into the leak, given that the internal probe recommended against opening a criminal investigation.

The Sde Teiman controversy has been unfolding for well over a year, since the initial allegations of abuse emerged in July 2024. It had died down until a routine polygraph test conducted recently by the Shin Bet on a MAG officer led to a breakthrough in the case, resulting in Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation and admission to the leak.

Tomer-Yerushalmi then went missing for hours on Sunday and was unreachable by phone, prompting a massive search involving police, rescue forces, and the military, before she was ultimately found alive and well. Her phone is still missing.