Katz to meet IDF chief Zamir to discuss new military advocate general after leak scandal

Defense Minister Israel Katz will meet this afternoon with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to discuss appointing a new military advocate general.

This comes after Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi stepped down on Friday over her involvement in the leaking of a surveillance video from the Sde Teiman detention facility that purported to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.

Zamir is set to present Katz with several candidates for the role.

The Kan public broadcaster cites Katz’s “inner circle” as saying that the next military advocate general must come from “outside the system,” meaning someone who did not serve in the Military Advocate General’s office.

But according to the Military Justice Law — the legal framework for military jurisdiction in Israel — the military advocate general must be “a military attorney with at least seven years of legal experience,” which removes the possibility of a civilian legal expert, or even a senior IDF officer who is not an attorney, serving in the role.