Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Then-Chief Military Advocate Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi at a ceremony for outgoing Israeli Supreme Court judge Yosef Elron. Sept. 18, 2025
(JNS) — In a disturbing revelation last week, Israel’s Military Advocate General (MAG) Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted to personally authorizing not just the release, but the amplification of a fabricated video accusing IDF soldiers of committing sexual atrocities against Hamas prisoners.
The individual entrusted with defending our military instead became the mouthpiece for a lie so grotesque it painted our defenders as monsters and helped fuel anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations, branding them as rapists.
In doing so, this senior legal official created the worst blood libel in all of Jewish history, with billions of people around the world seeing that doctored video and believing the outrageous charges.
It only came to light because of an internal Israel Security Agency (Sin Bet) report that surfaced, showing that officials admitted the MAG authorized sending the fabricated video to the media. Not because of the Attorney General (AG). Not because of the Supreme Court. And certaintly not because of the mainstream media.
They all covered up this scandal for a year and half while some of them screamed for a proper investigation. The explosive piece of intelligence did not emerge by chance. It was escalated thanks to the courage and integrity of the new head of the Shin Bet, David Zini.
Had someone from the deep state’s approved list been appointed instead of Zini, this whole scandal would have stayed hidden. Zini took office because Netanyahu stood firm through a year of legal warfare and smear campaigns, and the truth finally broke through their wall of silence.
For years, many have warned that senior figures in Israel’s legal system operate as a self-protecting, ideologically driven network. This deep state shields its own and crushes dissent. And every time people speak out, they are called conspiracy theorists or extremists.
Yet a pattern has emerged:
• The MAG caught approving a fabricated attack on IDF soldiers.
• The AG blocking accountability and covering for her.
• The Supreme Court signing off on the cover-up.
• The mainstream media cheering them on and ignoring any factual investigative reporting on this huge scandal.
This scandal is a turning point.
The mask has fallen. The wall of lies and power that has propped up Israel’s deep state for decades is starting to crack. Tomer-Yerushalmi must be stripped of her rank and face jail time for what she did to IDF solders and for the diplomatic damage she did to the State of Israel.
And that’s only the beginning.
On Nov. 4, Israeli security forces enlisted the help of ZAKA’s Diving Unit in the ongoing search for the cellular phone of Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.
ZAKA, an emergency response nonprofit, sent personnel to Tel Aviv’s Cliff Beach in a large-scale effort locate the phone.
Tomer-Yerushalmi, who has admitted leaking a video connected to the Side Teiman Affair, disappeared on Sunday for several hours, speaking a full-scale manhunt in an ongoing drama that has rocked the nation.
She was located several hours after her disappearance. In the interim, her phone disappeared. According to a leaked police interrogation, when asked about the device, Tomer-Yerushalmi answered: “Maybe my phone fell into the sea. I don’t remember.”
They asked: “Where did you disappear for three hours? An entire country was looking for you. Your family was crying out with worry.”
She replied: “I’m confused. I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
On Monday, the Tel Aviv District Court held a hearing in which it extended her incarceration by three days, until Nov. 5.
The judge, in her diversion, said the former MAG is suspected of fraud, breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice and the passing of information by a public servant.
Also detained chief Military Prosecutor Col. Matan Solomesh, who is suspected of playing a central role in the conspiracy to cover up the source of the leak.
The Military Advocate General’s office claimed to the High Court of Justice in September that had launched an investigation into the matter, but was unable to locate the responsible party.
The story began in July of last year when IDF Military Police arrested nine reservists guarding the Sde Einman dentition center in the Negev as part of the probe into an incident of alleged sexual abuse of an imprisoned Hamas terrorist.
Tomer-Yerushalmi’s office came under fire from many on Israel’s right, who claimed she had falsely accused innocent Israeli solders during wartime.
Tomer-Yerushalmi acknowledged in her resignation letter on Friday that she had approved the leak of the video (released in August), claiming that she had done so to “fend off false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities.”
On Nov. 7, Tomer-Yersuhalmi was released to 10 days of house arrest and forbidden from contracting others involved in the case.
