SDE TEIMAN SCANDAL ERUPTS INTO FULL-BLOWN MILITARY MELTDOWN. IDF Legal Chief Arrested, Prosecutor Suspended, and the “Abused” Hamas Detainee Quietly Sent Back to Gaza

The already explosive Sde Teiman abuse case has now detonated into a full-blown crisis shaking the Israel Defense Forces from its upper ranks down to its legal core. What began as a controversial investigation into alleged mistreatment of a Hamas detainee has spiraled into a scandal involving leaks, arrests, resignations, and what some officials are calling “a coup within the military justice system.”

A Prosecutor Pulled, Files Vanished, and an Arrested Legal Chief

Sources inside the IDF confirm that a senior operational prosecutor, a lieutenant colonel, has been yanked from duty and placed on forced leave after being accused of leaking classified material from the Sde Teiman investigation, including surveillance video, polygraph data, and full internal reports from Unit 100, the military’s investigative division.

According to Doron Kedmi from "Galei Tzahal" (Army Radio), the prosecutor was questioned under caution last week after investigators traced a digital trail suggesting that entire data packets were transferred from his office to the Military Advocate General’s headquarters, where Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, Israel’s now-former top military legal official, was overseeing “information management.”

That “management,” investigators now believe, was in fact an orchestrated leak operation.

The Legal Chief Who “Went Rogue”

Maj. Gen. Tomer-Yerushalmi, once hailed as a legal reformer, is now behind bars. After resigning on Friday, admitting she authorized the release of the abuse video “to fight incitement”, she disappeared for 48 hours, reportedly turning off her phone and ignoring military summonses. She was arrested Sunday night in what security sources called “a last-ditch containment effort.”

Investigators now suspect she directed subordinates to pull restricted files from the operational prosecutor’s office and feed them directly to select media outlets, allegedly to “restore public trust.” The order reportedly came just hours before the video hit social networks, sparking a nationwide storm that embarrassed the IDF command and fueled political outrage.

It remains unclear whether the suspended lieutenant colonel understood he was part of a coordinated leak or simply followed instructions from above. Either way, the entire military prosecution division is now under internal review.

Chaos in the Chain of Command

While no official statement has been issued, insiders confirm that a colonel from the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office has already stepped in to “stabilize the proceedings.” But stability is nowhere to be found.

Adding to the chaos, defense attorneys for the five accused reservists learned yesterday that the so-called “victim”, a Hamas detainee at the center of the case, was quietly released back to Gaza as part of the latest prisoner swap. The order authorizing his release was signed “on behalf of the operational prosecutor”, the very officer suspended for leaking.

A Summer of Riots, Leaks, and Legal Warfare

The Sde Teiman controversy began in July 2024, when military police raided the Negev detention facility after reports surfaced of abuse against Gaza detainees. Within days, far-right protesters clashed with police outside the base, accusing the IDF of betraying its soldiers while defending terrorists.

Then came the video leak, a clip showing parts of an interrogation and alleged rough handling of a detainee. It went viral overnight, triggering an internal firestorm. When investigators traced the leak to the MAG office, Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned, claiming she “acted in the interest of national unity.”

Her resignation letter simultaneously condemned Hamas detainees as “the worst kind of terrorists” while insisting that Israel must “hold itself to the highest standards.”

Political Repercussions and Moral Mayhem

Defense Minister Israel Katz called the resignation “a step toward accountability,” though his tone suggested more frustration than praise. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir blasted the investigation as “anti-democratic, demoralizing, and disgraceful,” claiming that the IDF was “persecuting its heroes to appease the international press.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a carefully worded statement warning that “the ongoing public leaks and political infighting” were damaging both Israel’s image and the IDF’s integrity.

Meanwhile, the accused reservists insist they were merely restraining a violent Hamas combatant during an attempted attack. Their lawyers now argue that with the leaks, missing files, and the detainee’s mysterious release, the entire prosecution is collapsing under its own corruption.

An Investigation Consumed by Itself

What began as a case about alleged abuse has morphed into a story of power, politics, and betrayal within Israel’s military elite. The investigation meant to uncover wrongdoing has now become the wrongdoing.

Each new revelation deepens the sense that Israel’s military justice system has been hijacked by internal agendas and media manipulation.

And as one retired senior officer told The Judean off the record:

“If this keeps unraveling, it won’t be the soldiers on trial, it’ll be the entire system.”