Honenu Attorney Nati Rom; Photo credit: Honenu
Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 14:00 In late July, 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). An investigation was launched by the Military Criminal Investigation Division, and the case was placed under a gag order. The Mikan Channel of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Channel 13) violated the gag order which banned publication of the soldiers’ personal details. Also, video clips and investigative material were leaked from the IDF to Guy Peleg, a journalist with Channel 12 (Israel). 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 four months ago. As of now, although the deadline set by law for giving a response has passed, the government has not responded to the suit.
After the court extended the deadline by three days, the State Attorney’s office requested more time, claiming that the army had not yet given a response. Attorneys Yado and Rom objected, stating that the repeated request by the State proves that they are stalling. The attorneys also claimed that the claimants, who were harmed by the leak, have the right to know who leaked the material and what the investigating authorities did and did not do about the serious leak.
Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado issued a statement: “The consequences of this leak are thousands times more serious than those of the leak of which Eli Feldstein and an unnamed NCO are accused. In their case, a GSS investigation was launched. Here, there is radio silence. Nobody is investigating, nobody is demanding answers, nobody is requesting any information about the people who seriously harmed the IDF, the soldiers, and all Jews everywhere. The significant leak led to unfounded, false accusations of sodomy that slandered Israel, the IDF, and Israeli soldiers to the entire world.”
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.