From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Justice Ministry’s legal adviser declines to revisit question of AG’s conflict of interest
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Justice Ministry legal adviser Yael Kotik declines to revisit the ministry’s position that a conflict of interest exists in the Attorney General’s Office regarding the Sde Teiman leak case, despite a letter to that effect sent by her police counterpart.
Earlier today, police announced they had completed their investigation into the leak of security footage from Sde Teiman purporting to show reservists severely abusing a Gazan detainee.
After the IDF’s top legal official, the military advocate general, confessed to leaking the footage last year, Justice Minister Yariv Levin accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of having a conflict of interest in the case because she accepted the recommendation of an internal probe by the military advocate general’s office not to open a criminal investigation.
Baharav-Miara, whose office oversees the state prosecution, is not currently a suspect in the case. Her sidelining at Levin’s behest complicates the investigation, since state prosecutors are needed to file indictments.
Police legal adviser Elazar Kahana sent Kotik a letter today asking Kotik to re-examine the conflict of interest issue, which she now rejects.
“A complete factual basis is required to allow for the examination of the conflict of interest issue,” her letter reads.
She further requests that Kahana send her details about officials in the Attorney General’s Office and State Attorney’s Office who gave testimony to investigators as part of the probe, suggesting that they may have a conflict of interest in the matter as well.
“Once you provide us with the necessary information, we will be able to reassess our position regarding the individual and institutional conflict of interest,” Kotik writes.
The Times of Israel Community.