Last night, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the former top military lawyer, Maj. Gen. Tomer-Yerushalmi, for her admission that she authorized the release of a video of Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian prisoner, she went missing. For an administration in complete denial of its war crimes, the video had undercut the lying and coverups over many such incidents at the infamous Sde Neiman detention center.
Pronounced guilty of a “blood libel” by Defense Minister Israel Katz two days earlier and characterized by Netanyahu on Nov. 2 as responsible for an “enormous reputational damage to Israel, to the IDF, and to our soldiers,” her disappearance occasioned authorities to deploy police, deploy helicopters, flares, naval units, and advanced tracking technology. After a few hours, she contacted her husband and the search was called off.
