Honenu Attorney Poleski; Photo credit: Honenu
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 19:03 In July 2024, ten combat soldiers from IDF Unit 100 were detained at the Sde Teiman military base on suspicion of assaulting a Nukhba terrorist prisoner who took part in the Simhat Torah massacre (October 7). Honenu is representing two of the soldiers. An investigation was launched by the Military Criminal Investigation Division (MCID), and the case was placed under a gag order. However, video clips and investigative material were leaked from the IDF, and several news networks violated the gag order. On May 6, Kan Channel 11 broadcast an investigative report about the Sde Teiman incident. The head of the MCID investigation team that investigated the IDF Unit 100 soldiers participated in the broadcast.
Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski wrote a letter to the Chief Military Advocate, Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, demanding an inquiry into whether or not the IDF approved the participation of the investigation team head. In his letter, Attorney Poleski underscored the great damage to the legal proceedings due to the fact that witnesses for the prosecution were interviewed for the broadcast:
“There is a definite possibility that the integrity of the legal proceedings was damaged, perhaps intentionally, including by the commission of the crimes of corrupting legal proceedings, harassing a witness, and undue influence. Beyond that, on the face of it, some of the participants in the broadcast were IDF soldiers who dealt with or were involved in investigating the incident in the framework of their military service. We demand an urgent clarification of whether or not the participation of the interviewees was with the knowledge of the Military Advocate General, and whether or not the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit had given their approval for the participation of any of the interviewees in the broadcast.”
Attorney Poleski demanded that Major-General Tomer-Yerushalmi take significant actions against the soldiers who participated in the investigative report: “In as much as the things were not done in coordination with the Military Advocate General, or after receiving approval from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, we demand your immediate action to correct the failure and take the appropriate steps against all parties involved. A severe situation has arisen from this incident, in which it appears that interested parties took part in the television program with the goal of influencing the integrity of the legal proceedings.”
In addition to Kan Channel 11, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation violated the gag order by not blurring the soldiers’ faces in a Channel 13 report. Also, video clips and investigative material were leaked from the IDF to Guy Peleg, a journalist with Channel 12, who later aired a report in which he claimed that the soldiers sodomized the Nukhba terrorist.
In late 2024, Honenu Attorneys Menashe Yado and Nati Rom filed an NIS 600,000 civil suit at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court for violation of privacy against the IDF and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation on behalf of two of the soldiers who were detained, and whose faces were revealed in a leaked recording. In April, Honenu Attorneys Menashe Yado and Nati Rom filed an amended statement of claim with the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, adding Guy Peleg and Channel 12 to the suit as defendants, and raising the requested sum to NIS two million.
In July 2024, ten combat soldiers from Unit 100 were detained at the Sde Teiman military base on suspicion of assaulting a Nukhba terrorist prisoner who took part in the Simhat Torah massacre (October 7). Five of the soldiers were released within a month. The remaining five soldiers were held in remand for over a month, and after their release were placed under nighttime house arrest. In September 2024 they were allowed to return to work, and in November 2024 they were released from nighttime house arrest.
In light of the media leak in the case, the Beit Lid Military Court of Appeals ruled that, “The Military Advocate General is required to promptly reply to the question of how investigative material reached the news media, in light of the claims of possible damage to the integrity of the investigation.”
Attorney Rom wrote a letter to the Attorney General demanding that she order an investigation into the leak and put those responsible for it on trial. The Attorney General replied that she had transferred the handling of the investigation to the IDF.
Following the last house arrest extension, the Honenu Attorneys Rom and Keidar requested to receive the investigative material in the case from the military prosecution.
Please click here for a description by the detained Sde Teiman soldiers of the incident.
Please click here for a statement from Hila, the wife of one of the soldiers detained at the Sde Teiman military base on suspicion of assaulting a Nukhba terrorist, who leveled sharp criticism at the Military Advocate General over his detention.
On July 30, the court ignored the soldiers’ concerned families and held a hearing in their absence.
Initially, Honenu Attorneys Rom and Keidar were prevented on various pretexts from meeting with the detainees and granting them legal counsel.