Military Prosecutor Plea Deal: Sde Teiman Leak Case

Legal sources indicate that former Chief Military Prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi is moving toward a plea agreement in the investigation into leaked video footage from the Sde Teiman detention facility case. Last week, Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition that sought to prevent State Attorney Amit Aisman from overseeing the investigation into the leak and demanded that Justice Minister Yariv Levin appoint an external supervisor for the probe, which centers on Tomer-Yerushalmi's alleged involvement.

Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit and Justice Khaled Kabub ruled that there was no basis to intervene in the updated legal opinion from the Justice Ministry's legal adviser, Yael Kotik, which determined that the State Attorney's conflict of interest had been removed. Justice David Mintz issued a dissenting opinion.

The petition was filed following an updated opinion issued in March, which found that while Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's conflict of interest remained in place, there was no longer any impediment to State Attorney Aisman handling the case. This determination came after police announced that investigative activities had concluded and that no evidentiary basis was found for the involvement of parties outside the military prosecution in the affair.

Many on Israel's political right have expressed anger over the development, arguing that it represents an unusually lenient approach toward the former chief military prosecutor. Journalist Ariel Kahana addressed the matter Wednesday on Radio 103FM, focusing particularly on footage broadcast by Channel 12 News involving soldiers from Force 100. "From the very first moment, I called this a Dreyfus affair," Kahana said. "They still haven't revealed the whole truth here."