Israeli Army’s top lawyer who leaked rape video traced after suicide fear
Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the Israeli Army’s top lawyer who leaked rape videos of a Palestinian hostage, is found alive after suicide fears
[Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi (L). Israel occupation army personnel involved in the mass rape of a Palestinian prisoner are hiding their faces and masked.]
Tel Aviv: Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the Israeli Army’s top lawyer who leaked rape videos of a Palestinian hostage, is found alive after suicide fears.
Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, had resigned after admitting to leaking footage showing the gang rape of a Palestinian hostage at the Sde Teiman prison facility in August last year.
She left behind a note what was seen as a “suicide note” which later turned out to be her "resignation letter".
A search operation was ordered after she went missing. Consequently, she was found alive near Tel Aviv beach late in the night Sunday, local media reported.
Sde Teiman Prison Mass Rape Video
The leaked video shows Israeli soldiers torturing and raping a Palestinian hostage at the Sde Teiman base, often referred to by Israeli activists as a “human slaughterhouse.”
The recording, from July 2024, spread widely online, sparking outrage abroad but mainly panic within Israel’s leadership over reputational damage and the risk of international prosecution.
Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, admitted leaking the video and disappeared. Police later found her car abandoned near a Tel Aviv beach early Sunday morning. Israel Hayom reported that she left a farewell letter inside the vehicle, while Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, said she also left a suicide note at her home.
Yifat Yerushalmi went missing a few hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the video leak as “the most dangerous propaganda attack in Israel’s history.”
Speaking at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the footage caused “massive damage to Israel’s image, its army, and its soldiers.”
He called for an independent investigation into the leak, which has deeply shaken Israel’s political and military establishment.
Israeli Right Wing Support for Rapists
Despite Netanyahu's comments, Israeli right-wing activists, including several ministers, stormed the base to show support for the soldiers, who committed the assault and denouncing their arrest. They also hailed them as heroes.
Israel’s far-right circles also threatened Yifat Yerushalmi of "dire consequences". According to sources quoted by Haaretz, she received direct threats at her home and workplace.
A Haaretz investigation published Sunday revealed that Yerushalmi, who was dismissed last week by Defense Minister Israel Katz, had for months avoided launching probes into incidents in Gaza that could constitute war crimes.
Military correspondent Yaniv Kubovich reported that Yifat Yerushalmi deliberately froze several sensitive cases due to threats and incitement from Israel’s far-right circles following her involvement in the Sde Teiman affair.
“She felt threatened and stopped making decisions out of fear of personal attacks,” a senior army source told the paper.
Watch Video
Breaking | Israeli occupation army targets Whistleblowers who exposed Detainee Rape at Sde Teiman
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 29, 2025
The Israeli occupation army has launched a criminal investigation, not against the soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian detainee, but against those who leaked the footage… pic.twitter.com/p6nTYdvUL0
Among the cases she ignored was the killing of seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in Deir al-Balah in April 2024. An internal field investigation found that the strike violated operational orders, but Yerushalmi chose not to refer it to military police.
A reserve officer told Haaretz that Yerushalmi also refused to open investigations into the killing of 15 medical staff members in Gaza in March 2024, despite documented evidence and calls from inquiry committees.
One case involved the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-Israeli aid distribution project managed by a private American company. Yerushalmi initially demanded strict legal oversight of the project but later withdrew under political pressure, allowing the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister Ron Dermer to take full control, Quds News Network reported.
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