IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has decided to dismiss former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi from the military over suspicions against her in the Sde Teiman affair, the IDF said Tuesday.
The military said the decision was made because of the prolonged criminal proceedings in her case and the severity of the acts and suspicions attributed to her.
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IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi
(Photo: IDF, Meir Even Haim, Shalev Shalom)
The military advocate general is the IDF's top legal officer, overseeing the military prosecution and advising commanders on legal matters.
The IDF said Zamir suspended Tomer-Yerushalmi immediately after suspicions against her emerged. After it became clear that the criminal process would be prolonged, Zamir decided not to wait any longer and to dismiss her from service without further delay.
Under the decision, Tomer-Yerushalmi will not be entitled to the “service period completion” component of her benefits. The IDF said, however, that no decision has been made on whether to demote her in rank. Zamir believes such a step should be considered only after the facts are clarified through the criminal proceedings.
In recent months, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s military pay was gradually cut under IDF regulations and has now been halted altogether. The IDF said it does not currently have the authority to revoke her pension because she served more than 25 years as a career officer.
A demotion would be highly unusual, as no such decision has ever been made before a final verdict. Although Zamir views the suspicions against her with great severity, any decision on her rank will be made only after the criminal proceedings advance and the facts become clearer.
Military officials, meanwhile, say they want the uncertainty surrounding the case resolved. The prolonged investigation has complicated matters for those involved, as well as for the IDF and its legal corps, which are seeking to move forward. Zamir expects the investigation to progress and allow for further decisions later.
Among the other officials linked to the case, Brig. Gen. Gal Asael, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s former deputy, retired from the IDF shortly after the initiation of legal proceedings against her. The rest remain suspended, including Lt. Col. Lior Ayash, the former operations prosecutor; Col. Matan Solomesh, the former chief military prosecutor; Maj. Itai Hamer, Tomer-Yerushalmi’s former chief of staff, and Maj. L.
The Sde Teiman affair
The decision comes against the backdrop of one of the most charged cases in the IDF since the start of the war.
The affair began with an investigation into suspected severe abuse of a Palestinian detainee held at Sde Teiman, a military detention facility in southern Israel used to hold Palestinians from Gaza during the war.
Demonstrators break into Sde Teiman base in protest of the arrest of Force 100 reservists
(Video: Ilana Curiel)
As part of the investigation, reserve soldiers from Force 100, a Military Police rapid-response unit that operates in detention facilities, were arrested. The arrests sparked a fierce public and political uproar, including protests, clashes between protesters and law enforcement around the Sde Teiman base and claims from right-wing politicians and activists that the investigation harmed IDF soldiers during wartime.
An indictment was later filed against five reservists and subsequently dropped, in part because of evidentiary difficulties and the difficulty of bringing the detainee, who had been released to the Gaza Strip, to testify.
The affair took another turn after security camera footage from the facility was leaked to the media, allegedly showing some of the events at the center of the investigation. The video sparked a separate uproar, but the focus later shifted to who leaked it and whether Military Advocate General’s Corps officials were involved.
In October 2025, the IDF said a criminal investigation had been opened into the publication of the video, while the involvement of Military Advocate General’s Corps officials was also being examined.
Days later, Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned after being placed on leave. In her resignation letter, she acknowledged that she had approved releasing the material to the media, saying she did so to counter what she called “false propaganda” against the military’s law enforcement officials following the investigation into the soldiers.
The criminal investigation into Tomer-Yerushalmi and other Military Advocate General’s Corps officials has continued since then, culminating Tuesday in Zamir’s decision to dismiss her from service.
Defense Minister Israel Katz welcomed Zamir’s decision. “I commend Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir for his decision to dismiss Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi from the IDF and revoke her chief of staff salary increases and additional privileges,” Katz said.
Katz said that “immediately after the Sde Teiman video leak affair was exposed, I acted to remove her from her position, in light of the serious acts she committed and the severe damage to the trust placed in her by IDF commanders and soldiers.”
Katz sharply criticized Tomer-Yerushalmi, calling the Sde Teiman affair “a serious blood libel against Force 100 and the heroic IDF soldiers who work day and night to defend the State of Israel against a cruel enemy.”
“Someone who chose to take part in a move that harmed our soldiers and their good name betrayed the trust placed in her in her highly sensitive role in the military system,” Katz said.
Katz said he had already appealed Monday to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara with an “urgent demand” to quickly advance legal proceedings against the former military advocate general in order to strip her of her ranks and imprison her for many years over what he called the serious acts she committed.
“Serious acts that harmed IDF soldiers, the defense establishment and public trust as a whole cannot be ignored,” Katz said.
“The State of Israel and the heroic IDF soldiers deserve commanders and a military legal system that act with integrity, responsibility and full loyalty to the soldiers and the state,” he said.