Police complete Sde Teiman leak probe, confirm attorney general not involved

Police announced Tuesday that they had completed a high-profile investigation into the Sde Teiman leak scandal and passed the case to the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser, rather than state prosecutors under Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

The case concerns the leak of footage purporting to show reservists sexually abusing a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility, but has since morphed into the center of a power struggle between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Baharav-Miara.

Levin and other right-wing politicians have accused Baharav-Miara of having a conflict of interest and even suggested her guilt in the leak scandal, after her office oversaw an internal probe that failed to implicate the leak’s source — ex-military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.

Despite coalition lawmakers’ repeated insinuations of wrongdoing by the attorney general, police did not find evidence to support claims that Baharav-Miara or any of her aides were involved in the leak or its subsequent cover-up.

Police nevertheless announced they would coordinate with the Justice Ministry, which is expected to appoint an “external official” to determine whether investigators should continue the probe or move on to filing indictments.

Police Commissioner Danny Levy decided to turn the case over to the Justice Ministry in order to “strengthen public trust” in the “highly sensitive public matter,” a police statement said.

Despite police’s decision to contact the Justice Ministry rather than the attorney general, officers were still requesting the ministry reconsider its unsubstantiated assertion Baharav-Miara has a conflict of interest.

Police legal adviser Elazar Kahana sent a letter on Tuesday to his counterpart in the Justice Ministry, Yael Kotik, notifying her of the completed probe and asking her to revisit the “conflict of interest issue.”

Kotik rejected Kahana’s request out of hand, then urged him to divulge details about officials in the Attorney General’s Office and State Attorney’s Office who gave testimony to police investigators about the leak.

She said that their testimony was proof of the purported conflict of interest, without specifying what compromised the officials, aside from their positions in the state prosecution.

Police declared the force’s decision to coordinate with the Justice Ministry was in accordance with a High Court of Justice ruling that temporarily sidelined the attorney general.

Last fall, Levin demanded that he be allowed to select someone not from the Attorney General’s and State Attorney’s Offices to oversee the investigation. The probe was ongoing at the time, with Baharav-Miara’s role still an open question, and the court granted his request.

While the court allowed for Levin to pick a supervisor given the case’s unique circumstances, judges rejected both of his nominees, who did not meet the guidelines set in their ruling.

Baharav-Miara has come into a series of confrontations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-religious coalition, which is seeking to oust her from her post.

The government has accused the attorney general of serially thwarting its will over policy, appointments and legislation, and asserts that it can no longer work effectively with her, while Baharav-Miara has argued she has simply been demarcating what the government can and cannot do under the law.

Before the Justice Ministry was briefed on the Sde Teiman case, police said in a statement that Levy met with Police Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt, who oversaw the probe as head of the police’s investigations and intelligence division.

Police denied reports that Levy intervened in the probe under political pressure from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is reportedly insistent on implicating Baharav-Miara in the scandal.

The police denial came a week after a coalition of academics petitioned the High Court to bar Levy and Ben Gvir from involvement in the probe, accusing the former of bowing to pressure from the far-right minister to find dirt on Baharav-Miara.

The petitioners claimed that Levy forbade Blatt from updating the State Attorney’s Office on the probe’s progress and ordered law enforcement to carry out “supplementary” investigative actions, despite the investigative team insisting they were unnecessary.

The security footage that was leaked concerns the alleged sexual assault of a Palestinian security detainee in the Sde Teiman detention facility. Five reserve soldiers have been charged in the scandal and are awaiting trial.

Before charges were filed, the very existence of the investigation into the soldiers sparked outrage among far-right activists and politicians, who in 2024 broke into the detention facility and another army base in an attempt to thwart the arrests. A minister from Ben Gvir’s ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party was among the coalition members who stormed the base.

Amid the severe pushback, Tomer-Yerushalmi leaked a video of the alleged abuse to Channel 12 news, in a bid to lend credence to the investigation into the soldiers.

Tomer-Yerushalmi is believed to have tried to cover up her role after leaking the footage. The leak, its cover-up and the potential involvement of the ex-official’s subordinates comprise the focus of the ongoing investigation.

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.