A Different View on Israel

The Sde Teiman Scandal and the Real “Cover Up”

While Justice Minister Levin is busy accusing the Supreme Court and claiming a cover-up of the “truth” in the Sde Teiman scandal, Israeli politicians from all directions are pre-occupied with the real attempts to cover up the scandal. While Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer‑Yerushalmi, the outgoing Military Advocate General, is responsible for several serious offenses, including the leakage of the highly sensitive video, lying to the Supreme Court and obstruction of justice, this criminal investigation is a handy distraction that is covering up the real problem with this whole issue: the fact that Israeli soldiers were filmed abusing Palestinian prisoners.

After Levin did not succeed in appointing a Chief justice to investigate the leakage, (mind you, not the abuse) the Supreme Court requested that Attorney General Gali Baharav‑Miara and Levin reach a compromise by Thursday, or the Court will make decision. Not unexpectedly, no such compromise was reached, even when Levin insisted that the Attorney General should not be able to appoint a representative because of a conflict of interest, and on Sunday, the Supreme Court will make their decision public.

In the meantime, the IDF Attorney General resigned and according to some sources attempted to commit suicide. She was arrested but later on restricted to house arrest.   She insisted that an incitement campaign against  her had reached its peak when she decided to investigate the soldiers involved in the abuse, claiming that there are things that cannot be done even against the worst of detainees.

But, for right-wing politicians this was not enough. Defense Minister Katz called her involvement “blood libel” against “our soldiers even though the veracity of the video was never disputed and five soldiers were indicted for the offenses.

Prime Minister Netanyahu called the leak (again, the “leak”, not the serious offenses) “an enormous reputational blow,” and later on “the worst PR disaster in Israel’s history.” National Security minister, Ben-Gvir, called it “criminal behavior under a legal guise” and called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the leak.

There have been stories about offenses by soldiers, throughout the war in Gaza, but those were mostly ignored by the Israeli media and maybe even the censor has been involved in suppressing these events. In addition, offenses of this case conveniently were “overshadowed” by the accusations against Tomer‑Yerushalmi, her resignation and her arrest.

However, in the words of the IDF Attorney General, these offenses could not be ignored and it does not show the weakness of the IDF, but  its strength. The Israeli military says it remains committed to the rule of law and that what it describes as “exceptional incidents” of abuse are addressed accordingly.

The war lasted for two years and undoubtedly, atrocities have occurred, but, even if the slogan “The most humane army in the world” is highly overrated, Israeli soldiers do not turn into sadists overnight when enlisting in the army to defend their country and it is acceptable that atrocities of this nature are the exception rather than the rule, but this is the more reason to investigate  such events when they do occur.

I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments (in English) you may have.

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