The IDF's Top Lawyer Led the System That Refused to Apply the Rule of Law to the IDF. Then She Became Its Victim
The resignation of Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the former IDF chief military advocate general, marks the end of the shameful chapter in the work of the person who headed the system for evading the law in the IDF.
The Military Advocate General, the legal official responsible for interpreting international law and following its conditions, played a central role over the past two years in authorizing the military's brutal conduct in the Gaza Strip.
She was the one who provided a legal stamp – and social legitimacy – to military action, while preserving a formal distance (in other words, an alibi for the IDF's top brass) from what was actually happening in the field, systematically avoiding investigating cases of serious, and sometimes horrifying, acts on the part of IDF forces.
She did not open an investigation in the case of the killing of aid workers or attacks on hospitals in the Gaza Strip, and ignored evidence of murder, abuse, vandalism, starvation, and looting, among other things. It would be more appropriate to call her the chief cover-up general.
Tomer-Yerushalmi ordered the leak to the media of the video showing the abuse of a Palestinian detainee in the Sde Teiman detention center. Later she wove a web of deception to hide her actions, used criminal methods to involve other people in the military advocate's office, even reaching the level of lying to the High Court of Justice, a Knesset hearing and in legal proceedings against the accused soldiers.
In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi justified her actions as an attempt to "ward off false propaganda against the law enforcement officials in the military," and added: "We stood watch of the rule of law in the IDF." But the facts tell a different story.
Tomer-Yerushalmi decided to act against the crimes committed in Sde Teiman only when she had no other choice left. A month before the arrests of the reserve IDF soldiers on suspicion of abuse and sexual assault, the New York Times published a comprehensive investigative report on the horrifying acts committed in the detention center. Even before that, the U.S. State Department demanded answers from Israel about the claims of human rights violations in Sde Teiman. To this must be added the reports of human rights groups such as Physicians for Human Rights on the matter.
Soldiers accused of abusing a Gazan detainee at Sde Teiman detention facility give a press conferenceCredit: Olivier Fitoussi
She knew about dozens of Palestinian prisoners whose lives ended in mysterious ways at Sde Teiman, and she did nothing. Only when she felt the professional and public pressure (international, mostly) escalating – she decided to act. All the more so in this case, she acted only after being compelled to do so – following the prisoner's hospitalization in a civilian hospital, an event that left a clear paper trail, and after videos surfaced showing him being abused at Sde Teiman. The media leak was a life-saver for her – not for Israeli society.
Tomer-Yerushalmi did not stand on the "watch of the rule of law," she only wanted to build an alibi for herself for what she did. In reality, she acted only in this specific case, and in this case, too, only in a very limited manner. With great cowardice, she asked the public to judge the suspected soldiers, but her job was to enforce the law against those who violated it, and not to put them on trial before the public. In practice, the leak and the cover-up made the situation worse. The IDF lawyer who tried to save herself from the results of her continuing powerlessness in dealing with war crimes found herself deeper in the mud.
Destruction in Gaza after the Israeli Air Force attack, July.Credit: Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Her resignation letter tried to hide her role in the war and present herself as a victim of "improper and false delegitimization," and not as someone who abandoned her watch and authorized the acts that led to the destruction of the Gaza Strip and the abuse and killing of Palestinians. The irony stands out: The lawyer who was supposed to defend the rule of law – and failed – is now the one suspected of crimes and is being held in detention.
What may be expected for her – the loss of rank and her military pension, and even criminal proceedings – will become part of the campaign of revenge and persecution of the government and far-right against the institutions of the rule of law. What is no less important is the sharp and clear message about the price to be paid in the future by anyone who dares to investigate war crimes and violations committed by soldiers.
Opposition leaders rushed to condemn Tomer-Yerushalmi for her "serious failure," "damage to the IDF" and "abuse of trust." But none of them mentioned the two years in which she systematically approved criminal military actions, avoided investigating crimes and granted a legal rubber stamp to crimes, for which the prime minister and former defense minister are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Palestinian detainees being held at Sde Teiman detention center in southern Israel.Credit: Breaking the Silence
If they do make an example out of her in this case, Tomer-Yerushalmi will become the voodoo doll of the government and right wing, and will be the symbol of political persecution. One can assume that those who are condemning her today among the opposition will then come to her defense. But even then, this defense will focus only in the leak and cover up affairs – and will require total denial of her much greater responsibility for what happened during the war in Gaza.
Tomer-Yerushalmi fell victim to the strategy in which she played a part. Her attempts to hide behind legal formalism, create future lines of defense, and leak material to the media instead of doing her work – just made the swamp she was stuck in even deeper. Her attempt to save herself is what has hit her now with great force, and along the way it has helped Israelis to ignore that she was the main instrument in normalizing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Adam Raz is a historian, Assaf Bondy is a sociologist. They recently published their latest book: "The Lexicon of Brutality: Key Terms from the Gaza War."