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A senior law enforcement source reportedly said that a government bid to “trample democracy” was thwarted by top police officers who refused on Thursday to hand over material from the Sde Teiman video leak probe to Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s handpicked investigator, Asher Kula.
“This was the most viable attempt yet to trample democracy,” said the source in the police’s National Headquarters, quoted by Channel 12 on Friday.
“But Police Commissioner Danny Levy, investigations chief Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt and police legal adviser Assistant Commissioner Elazar Kahana personally thwarted it” by demanding Kula’s appointment be green-lit by the High Court before he gains access to the investigation material, the source said.
In an effort to bypass Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Levin on Tuesday tapped Kula, who is the state ombudsman for judges, to head the investigation into former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi for leaking surveillance video that purported to show troops severely abusing a Gazan detainee at the detention facility last year.
Baharav-Miara, in turn, accused Levin of misusing his authority by appointing Kula. She has instead sought to transfer the investigation to the State Attorney’s Office following a Thursday opinion from the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser that the attorney general should recuse herself because an earlier probe she had supervised into Tomer-Yerushalmi’s office determined the case be closed without a criminal investigation.
Some on the right have accused Baharav-Miara, whom the government has long sought to oust, of complicity in the Sde Teiman leak and its subsequent cover-up. However, Tomer-Yerushalmi has reportedly told investigators that she hid her identity from other figures in the judiciary.
The clash between Levin and Baharav-Miara is likely to end up in the High Court. However, following the legal opinion that Baharav-Miara should recuse herself, Kula reportedly approached the police on Thursday and demanded access to the investigation materials.
According to Haaretz, Kula argued that his appointment by Levin was legally valid since the High Court had not issued an injunction against it, even as the court accepted Baharav-Miara’s recusal.
Hours later, Haaretz said, when Kula realized police would not immediately comply, he put out an official statement that he would “act only in accordance with the High Court’s directive.” However, according to the newspaper, Kula was still demanding access to the investigative material as of Friday.
Senior law enforcement officials cited by Haaretz accused Kula of “trying to exploit the opportunity to look at the investigative material and hand out his own orders despite knowing the High Court was yet to make a decision.”
“This is unacceptable conduct, especially for someone who is serving as state ombudsman for judges,” said the officials, adding that Levy, the police chief, was determined to act only in accordance with the High Court’s ruling despite pressure from Kula “and other top officials.”
According to the source cited by Channel 12, Levin was applying pressure on the police top brass to endorse Kula’s appointment.
“Had that happened, it would have been an actual coup,” said the source. “In that moment, democracy would have come to an end.”
The Sde Teiman surveillance video was leaked to Channel 12 in August 2024, days after masked military police officers arrested nine reservists at Sde Teiman suspected of taking part in the abuse of the Gazan detainee, who suffered from severe injuries, including to his rectum.
Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned last week after admitting she leaked the video, has said she did so to fend off public criticism that culminated in right-wing mobs storming Sde Teiman and the Beit Lid military court, where the suspects were taken.
Five of the reservists were indicted in February, but the fate of their trial is unclear after it emerged last week that the abused detainee was released back to Gaza as part of the October 9 truce-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
Tomer-Yerushalmi told police over the past week that she had successfully concealed her identity as the leaker, and that no one outside her office was involved in the leak or knew that she was behind it, the Kan public broadcaster reported Friday.
No evidence has emerged during the investigation that anyone in the offices of the attorney general, state attorney, or IDF chief of staff was aware of Tomer-Yerushalmi’s involvement, Kan added.
On Sunday, Tomer-Yerushalmi went missing for two hours before being found alive and well on a Tel Aviv-area beach amid fears that she had taken her own life.
The IDF’s former top lawyer was subsequently detained and was released to 10 days of house arrest on Friday after posting NIS 20,000 ($6,000) in bail. She is suspected of fraud and breach of trust, abuse of her office, obstruction of justice and unlawful disclosure of material.
She has said her phone, which is presumed to contain important evidence, was lost at sea when she went missing. A civilian swimmer found it by chance on Friday morning.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
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