“I would never, ever publish a video that makes IDF soldiers look bad, even when they did something wrong, out of the understanding that it could tarnish our image in the eyes of the entire world.”

These are not the words of the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) chief. They were not even written by a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Shockingly, they came from a journalist, Amichai Attali, a political correspondent for one of Israel’s most popular newspapers.

The words came from a much longer post published on X in response to a saga that is dominating Israeli headlines: in July 2024, legal authorities in the IDF opened an investigation into soldiers who were allegedly shown beating and sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee. Then, in August, a video was leaked to the press, allegedly showing the abuse at the Sde Teiman military base. Five guards were arrested – all Israeli soldiers – and later indicted.

In recent days the IDF’s legal chief, Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has been directly tied to the leak – and, moreover, to a subsequent cover-up. An internal investigation into the leak found no one to blame. Only recently did a routine polygraph test, taken by an officer from the IDF’s legal office, raise suspicions about questionable contacts with journalists. From there, it all went downhill for the legal chief, who eventually resigned from her post on 31 October. In her resignation letter, she said: “I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army’s law enforcement authorities.”

Then came another twist: she went missing on 2 November, sparking a police search. She was found alive a few hours later and taken into custody, although the police could not locate her phone. On Friday, a civilian swimmer recovered the device, which, miraculously, was still working after five days in seawater. If that weren’t enough drama, Tomer-Yerushalmi was hospitalised on Sunday morning after an alleged attempted suicide attempt. Though it is hard to predict what will come next in this saga, as things stand, she is likely to face several charges.

However, the criticism in the Israeli journalist’s post was not aimed directly at Tomer-Yerushalmi. His main target was Channel 12’s legal analyst, Guy Peleg, who aired the leaked footage. Just last week, it was reported that Channel 12 News had assigned a security detail to Peleg, due to concerns that there might be attempts to harm him. Not long afterwards, Amichai Eliyahu, the heritage minister, posted about Peleg on his X account: “My heart is broken … In prison, he will be safe.” Last weekend even saw fans of Peleg’s favourite football club hold a banner in the stadium, informing him he is unwelcome there.

This comes as no surprise. In Israeli society, there is a prevailing notion that soldiers should be bulletproof – “even sacred”, as Haaretz journalist Tom Levinson told me. “It feels as if they should be able to do whatever they want, and there shouldn’t be any repercussions.” This applies to accusations of war crimes in the Gaza Strip as well as to actions outside the territory.

It seems as if a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy has been happily adopted. No one needs to know about any wrongdoing by IDF soldiers, let alone criticise them – we should simply thank and admire them. And when those secrets do come out, exposed to the public at home and abroad, one can expect a wave of public outrage – but not the type you might expect. “A blood libel,” no less, declared the defence minister, Israel Katz. Netanyahu said that this was “perhaps the most severe public relations attack that the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment”.

On Saturday, Channel 11 News (Kan, the public broadcaster) aired a 21-minute interview with four of the accused guards, portraying them as the “real victims” in this story. The framing of the piece suggested that they had been set up for something they had not done. According to the indictment, five soldiers beat the detainee, dragged him across the floor, stepped on his body, and used a taser against him. One of them allegedly stabbed the detainee in the buttocks, causing rectal injury. The detainee suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. The news presenter did not confront the guards with the specifics of the indictment.

As things stand, the path to the trial of the IDF soldiers appears full of obstacles. It was recently revealed that the detainee had been released to Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal, and somehow Israel failed to depose him (have him testify under oath or by affidavit) after the indictment was filed.

However, all of that seems unimportant in Israel. The real victims here – the detainees – are absent in the howls of outrage over this story. How many Palestinians have been mistreated in Israeli prisons? After this backlash, we may never know.

• Roy Schwartz is a senior editor and op-ed contributor at Haaretz

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