High Court to hear warring petitions on attorney general overseeing Sde Teiman probe

The High Court is set to hear two opposing petitions next week regarding Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s role in overseeing the investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak affair.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has been attempting to shut out Baharav-Miara — whom he has been trying to oust from her post — from the investigation into former military advocate general Yifar Tomer-Yerushalmi for leaking surveillance video that purported to show troops severely abusing a Gazan detainee last year. Tomer-Yerushalmi is accused of then covering up her actions while ostensibly overseeing the investigation into the leak, with Baharav-Miara supervising her probe.

Arguing that Baharav-Miara is compromised in the case, Levin last week tapped Asher Kula, the state ombudsman for judges, to head the investigation, leading the attorney general to accuse Levin of misusing his authority.

Baharav-Miara had sought to transfer the investigation to the State Attorney’s Office following a Thursday opinion from the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser that the attorney general should recuse herself.

Some on the right have accused Baharav-Miara, whom the government has long sought to oust, of complicity in the Sde Teiman leak and its subsequent cover-up. Tomer-Yerushalmi has reportedly told investigators that she hid her actions from other figures in the judiciary.

Supreme Court justices Yael Wilner, Alex Stein and Gila Canfy-Steinitz will preside over a hearing of the two petitions on Tuesday at 9 a.m., the Ynet news site reported. One of the petitions is seeking to bar Baharav-Miara from the investigation into the affair, while the other is requesting that the court strike down Levin’s appointment of Kula.

On Friday, a senior law enforcement source told Channel 12 that top police officers had thwarted a government bid to “trample democracy” by refusing to hand over material from the investigation to Kula until a High Court ruling is issued.

According to reports, Kula had approached police on Thursday and demanded access to the investigation materials, arguing that his appointment by Levin was valid since the High Court had not issued an injunction against it.

But according to multiple reports, including in Haaretz and Channel 12, police chief Danny Levy, police investigations chief Boaz Blatt and police legal adviser Elazar Kahana refused his demand, telling him that his appointment must be green-lit by the High Court before they would allow him access.

Haaretz reported that after Kula realized police would not hand over the material, he put out an official statement saying he would “act only in accordance with the High Court’s directive.”

According to the newspaper, though, he was still demanding access to the material as of Friday.

The Sde Teiman surveillance video was leaked to Channel 12 in August 2024, days after masked military police officers arrested nine reservists at Sde Teiman suspected of taking part in the abuse of the Gazan detainee, who suffered from severe injuries, including to his rectum.

Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned last week after admitting she leaked the video, has said she did so to fend off public criticism that culminated in right-wing mobs storming Sde Teiman and the Beit Lid military court, where the suspects were taken.

Five of the reservists were indicted in February, but the fate of their trial is unclear after it emerged last week that the abused detainee was released back to Gaza as part of the October 9 truce-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.

Tomer-Yerushalmi told police over the past week that she had successfully concealed her identity as the leaker, and that no one outside her office was involved in the leak or knew that she was behind it, Kan news reported Friday.

No evidence has emerged during the investigation that anyone in the offices of the attorney general, state attorney, or IDF chief of staff was aware of Tomer-Yerushalmi’s involvement, Kan added.