High Court orders Justice Ministry legal adviser to end delay, advance Tomer-Yerushalmi case

The High Court of Justice instructs the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser Yael Kotik to announce within a week who within the state prosecution she believes should oversee the ongoing case against former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and make decisions on the matter.

Tomer-Yerushalmi is under investigation for the leak of a video from the Sde Teiman holding facility in 2024 that purports to show guards at the southern detention facility severely abusing a Gazan inmate. She then allegedly covered up her involvement while feigning an investigation to find the person who leaked the video.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara recused herself from the case due to overseeing Tomer-Yerushalmi’s earlier, fallacious internal probe, amid accusations by coalition officials that she and other figures in the justice system were part of the cover-up. Kotik has been reviewing police’s investigation into the case. Police have said they found no evidence that Baharav-Miara had any knowledge of Tomer-Yerushalmi’s wrongdoing — potentially allowing the attorney general to resume her involvement.

Kotik received police’s findings at the start of the month. She has faced accusations that she is dawdling in issuing her own position on police’s findings at the behest of Justice Minister Yariv Levin, to prevent Baharav-Miara or other prosecution officials from reassuming control over the case.