Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Tuesday announced the dismissal of former Military Advocate General (MAG) Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi over her role in the “Sde Teiman Affair.”
“In light of the prolongation of the criminal proceedings, the IDF chief of staff, given the severity of the acts and the suspicions, decided to dismiss the former MAG from service without further delay,” according to the IDF statement.
Tomer-Yerushalmi will not be entitled to a “service period completion” component, an addition to the cumulative pension of career soldiers, it continued. The chief of staff is also considering demoting Tomer-Yerushalmi after all the facts have been gathered in the criminal proceedings against her.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz congratulated the chief of staff on his decision.
“Immediately after the exposure of the Sde Teiman video leak affair, I acted swiftly to dismiss her from her position due to the grave acts she committed and the severe damage to the trust placed in her by IDF commanders and soldiers,” said Katz.
He described the Sde Teiman Affair as a “grave blood libel” against Force 100, a unit of the Military Police responsible for high-risk security prisoners, and “the heroic IDF fighters who defend the state.” In choosing to take part in a “process that harmed our fighters and their good name,” Tomer-Yerushalmi “betrayed the trust given to her in the most sensitive role within the military system,” he said.
Boaz Bismuth, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, also praised the decision.
“The right decision was made today. Someone who harmed the IDF, trampled the spirit of the fighters, cannot be part of the IDF any longer,” he said.
In Oct. 31, 2025, Tomer-Yerushalmi submitted her letter of resignation to Zamir, in which she admitted guilt for a leaked video.
In July 2024, IDF Military Police arrested nine reservists guarding the Sde Teiman detention center in the Negev as part of a probe into an incident of alleged sexual abuse of an imprisoned Hamas terrorist. Five of the nine would be indicted.
The makeshift detention center near the southern city of Beersheva has been housing terrorists captured in Gaza, many of whom were directly involved in the attacks and atrocities against civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.
Protesters on Israel’s Right, including Knesset members, accused the IDF’s top lawyer of falsely accusing the soldiers.
Tomer Yerushalmi acknowledged in the letter that she had approved the leak of the video in August 2025, claiming that she did so to “fend off false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities.”
The security camera footage from inside the Sde Teiman facility purporting to prove misconduct by the five reservists also was leaked to Israel’s Channel 12 News.
The video, the most salacious piece of evidence purportedly showing the alleged incident, in fact showed little that was conclusive.
The accused reservists rejected the allegations, claiming in court that the recording had been doctored using footage from two separate days, and that they used proportionate force to subdue the terrorist.
On March 12, the new MAG, Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir, announced he was dropping the indictments.
“In light of the significant developments that have occurred since the filing of the indictment in the ‘Sde Teiman’ case, the chief military prosecutor has found it appropriate to order today the cancellation of the indictment against the five defendants in the file,” the IDF said at the time.
Tomer-Yerushalmi’s behavior was cited in the announcement as one of the reasons the case was dropped. It noted “the conduct of senior figures in the Military Prosecution and in the IDF law enforcement system in this affair, and its exceptional and unprecedented circumstances.”
Shortly after Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted her role in the leak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused her of “perhaps the most severe public relations attack the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment.”
Netanyahu said the PR damage Jerusalem suffered due to the leak was more intensely focused than any previous assault on Israel’s international legitimacy that he could recall.
“This requires an independent, impartial investigation, and I expect such an investigation to take place,” the premier said.
