Justice Minister Yariv Levin told Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara Saturday night that she cannot be involved in the investigation and legal proceedings in the Sde Teiman video leak affair, and said he planned to appoint a public official to investigate the matter, in consultation with the interim civil service commissioner.

In a sharply worded letter to Baharav-Miara, Levin implicitly accused her and her staff of having sought to obstruct investigative proceedings seeking to find the source of the leak — to which Military Advocate Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted on Friday — and said that the attorney general’s role in the matter would have to be examined.

Levin argued that Baharav-Miara was therefore legally unable to participate in the legal proceedings against the former military advocate general, according to the terms of the 1959 Law for the Civil Service.

He added that she could not be involved in investigating “the apparent obstruction of legal and investigative proceedings” into the leak, or the appointment of a new military advocate general, or an interim one.

It was not immediately clear that the minister had the authority to independently forbid the attorney general from involving herself in an investigation, but he could take legal steps to attempt to enforce his demand should she refuse.

The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv denounced Levin over his steps against the attorney general, accusing him of “subverting the rule of law,” and called on Baharav-Miara to ignore his instructions.

Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned from her post on Friday after admitting that she had leaked a video purported to show several Israeli soldiers severely beating and injuring a Palestinian security detainee at the Sde Teiman military detention facility in 2024.

The leak followed the arrest of ten IDF reservist soldiers who served at the Sde Teiman on suspicion of involvement in the abuse, which led to riots by right-wing activists and demonstrators, including serving MKs, at the base and the military court where they were taken.

Five soldiers were indicted in January this year for the abuse of the detainee.

In his letter to the attorney general, Levin cited submissions made to the High Court of Justice by the attorney general regarding the leak, where she stated that investigations into the incident had exhausted themselves and that there were no indicators of who the source might be.

“Since the source of the leak of the video was revealed by a basic investigation, it is clear that this notice to the High Court was not truthful,” wrote Levin, though it was not clear how he reached that conclusion.

Levin also accused Baharav-Miara of having been in lockstep with Tomer-Yerushalmi, insinuating that she had known for a long time that the military advocate general had leaked the video. He did not offer clear evidence.

The justice minister pointed out that in December 2024, Baharav-Miara wrote in a submission to the High Court on the issue that the background to the leak of the video was “severe riots” against IDF personnel investigating the Sde Teiman abuse allegations, which she said “harmed public order.”

Levin noted in his letter that Tomer-Yerushalmi stated when she resigned that she had leaked the video “to refute the false propaganda against IDF law enforcement officials.” He asked Baharav-Miara: “How did you know to write in your response to the High Court the background to the leak of the video, 10 months before the military advocate general announced what her motivation had been?”

The justice minister said this meant that “an investigation and a clarification of the facts is required, including from you personally.”

“Your personal involvement in the investigation process and that of your subordinates must be examined. Did you meet with the outgoing military advocate general? Did you speak with her on the matter, did you order her and her immediate environment to be investigated or questioned, or did you refrain from doing so, and in general, what was your knowledge of the affair?” the justice minister demanded.

“It goes without saying that neither you nor your subordinates will be able to engage in examining these and other questions,” he added.

Writing on X, MK Kariv rejected Levin’s effort to block Baharav-Miara’s involvement in the legal proceedings.

“I call on her to completely ignore his words. Levin’s brazen statement is a direct continuation of his destructive conduct, which undermines the rule of law,” wrote Kariv.

“The democratic public in Israel will not allow this government to exploit the affair of the leak of investigation materials into the abuse of a detainee in Sde Teiman, and the resignation of the military advocate general, in order to complete the regime coup that brought upon us a chain of unprecedented disasters.”