Israel’s High Court on Tuesday rejected Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s request to reconsider the appointment of retired judge Asher Kula, the Ombudsman for Complaints Against Judges, to lead the investigation into the leak of the Sdei Teiman video by former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer‑Yerushalmi.

In response, Levin issued a blistering attack on the Court and the police: “From the moment the Military Advocate General affair exploded, it was obvious that the police had no intention of carrying out a genuine investigation. Basic investigative steps were not taken, key witnesses were not questioned, and the police devised a new policy of avoiding arrests—an approach that itself amounted to obstructing the investigation.”

“When it became clear that the police were also allowing Attorney General Baharav‑Miara and members of the State Attorney’s Office to interfere with the investigation, I acted immediately to remove them from any involvement. At the same time, I appointed Judge Asher Kula to head the investigation—a man whose professionalism and independence are beyond dispute.”

“From the moment of his appointment, and later when I sought to appoint retired judge Ben Hamo, the High Court justices have repeatedly engaged in maneuvers aimed at blocking the appointment and allowing the police to continue their grave misconduct.”

“Again and again, I presented the court with proper appointments and practical solutions to problems the justices themselves fabricated out of thin air. The justices created rules that effectively make it impossible to appoint an impartial judge. Every name that was proposed was reviewed and then disqualified under these criteria.”

Levin concluded with a sharp warning: “This is what a system looks like when it has lost all sense of shame—when the stench of corruption and discrimination emanates from it, and when it clings desperately to authority and power, even at the cost of completely eroding public trust in the system and its leaders.

“Those responsible for the failure and the cover-up will not be able to hide behind judicial robes forever. When the truth comes out, they will not be able to claim, ‘We didn’t know,’ or ‘We didn’t act to close the case for a friend at the expense of IDF soldiers and their right to justice.’”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)