Wife of soldier detained in Sde Teiman case demands AG be investigated

The wife of one of the soldiers charged with severely abusing a Palestinian detainee in the Sde Teiman detention facility urges “justice and transparency for the fighters” suspected in the affair during a Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee meeting.

The committee is convening to discuss alleged conflicts of interest in the probe of the Sde Teiman surveillance footage leak, as coalition lawmakers accuse Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of helping to cover up the military advocate general’s approval of the leak of a video purporting to show the abuse.

Baharav-Miara declined to appear at the meeting, saying her or other law enforcement officials’ presence could interfere with the investigation into the affair.

“We will expose everyone,” says the wife, who can be identified only by her first name Hila, to lawmakers at the meeting. “Just because she [Baharav-Miara] didn’t show up doesn’t mean we won’t do everything to ensure that she is investigated.”

Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech alleges that the “attorney general is no less guilty than the military advocate general” in the affair.

Before police launched an investigation into the leak, Baharav-Miara oversaw a probe — carried out by the military advocate general’s deputy, Brig. Gen. Gal Asael — that did not implicate Tomer-Yerushalmi in the leak. Coalition lawmakers allege that the unsuccessful investigation is proof of a cover-up by the law enforcement system.

“The basic fact that she doesn’t comprehend is that even if she was not directly involved [in covering up the leak’s source], it is clear she worked alongside the military advocate general, as such that she took testimony from her and that she was going to be used as a witness for the prosecution,” Son Har-Melech claims.

There is no hard proof that Baharav-Miara knew about the leak’s source. Tomer-Yerushalmi told police during her interrogation that she did not inform high-ranking officials in the prosecution of her decision to leak the video, the Kan public broadcaster reported.