The Outsider Named to Run Israel's Military Prosecution

Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, appointed the attorney Itay Ofir as the army's new military advocate general, the Defence Ministry announced from Jerusalem on 4 November 2025. Ofir replaced Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who had resigned days earlier over her role in the leak of a video.

Katz said the appointment was crucial “in light of the serious facts that are being revealed,” and stressed the need for leadership untainted by suspicion. “It is of great importance at this time to immediately appoint a Chief Military Prosecutor from outside the prosecution system,” he said. “He will be able to work to clean up, rehabilitate, and organize the military prosecution system based on principles, primarily the protection of IDF soldiers who are fighting heroically in difficult and complex conditions for the security of the State of Israel.”

Who Ofir is

Ofir was legal adviser to the Defence Ministry from 2017 to 2024, after years in private practice in Israel and the United States. In 2022 a committee chaired by the former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis shortlisted him as one of three finalists for attorney general. He holds a Harvard qualification and degrees in law and business administration from Bar-Ilan University, served as a combat officer in the Israel Defense Forces' Givati Brigade and continues to serve in the reserves with the Negev Brigade.

The military advocate general is the army's chief legal officer, responsible for the military justice system and for whether the IDF's conduct stays within the law. The Times of Israel reported that Ofir was sworn in on 27 November 2025 and that taking the post required an extraordinary promotion of five ranks, from captain to major general.

The case behind the vacancy

Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned as the IDF's top legal officer and is accused of fraud, breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice and unlawful disclosure of classified material in what has become known as the Sde Teiman leak affair. Israeli authorities searched extensively for her mobile telephone on a beach in the coastal city of Herzliya, suspecting she may have staged a suicide attempt in order to dispose of it in the sea. After her arrest she underwent medical and psychological evaluations before being taken to Neve Tirza women's prison in Ramla. The investigation covers not only the leak but possible obstruction of justice and related offences.

The video at the centre of the case shows alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman military detention facility. The detainee, whose name has not been made public, returned to Gaza on 13 October when Israel freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire with Hamas. Five IDF reservists from the Force 100 military police unit were indicted in February for assault and causing severe injury. Honenu, a legal aid organisation representing two of them, called for the charges to be dropped: “We call on the Military Advocate General's Office to annul the indictments immediately,” the group said.

Sde Teiman, a facility in southern Israel set up after the outbreak of the Gaza war, has held more than 1,000 detainees from Gaza suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.

What Netanyahu said

Opening the weekly cabinet meeting that Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the affair “perhaps the most severe propaganda attack that the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment. I don't remember one that was so focused. This requires an independent and impartial investigation, and I expect that one will also be carried out.”

How the case has developed since

Two later decisions changed the picture. In March 2026, Ofir cancelled the indictment against the five reservists, citing the complexity of the evidence, the detainee's release to Gaza without testifying and concerns about abuse of process arising from the leak, The Times of Israel reported. In May 2026, the IDF chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, formally dismissed Tomer-Yerushalmi and denied her the completion-of-service pension normally paid to retiring officers of her seniority, according to The Jerusalem Post.

What is still unclear

The announcement did not say when Ofir would take up the post or what rank he would hold. It set out accusations against Tomer-Yerushalmi but no charges filed at that stage, and gave no timetable for the investigation. Nor did it address the independent inquiry Netanyahu said he expected.