And what if it really was the Military Advocate General?
The Channel 14 researcher did indeed err in identifying Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, but it is more disturbing to think what would have happened if he had not erred: the legal campaign cannot include personal physical harassment and humiliation beyond what is already mandated by the painful and necessary process of criminal trial.
The mocking harassment by Channel 14 personnel of a woman who perhaps resembles Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has rightly sparked reactions of contempt and rejection. The refusal of those same people, who call themselves journalists, to accept responsibility, and their clinging to embarrassing excuses, only exacerbate the incident, which is much more than a mere glitch. Nevertheless, the act would have been in my eyes no less despicable if the woman who was filmed and humiliated had not been a neighbor unrelated to the matter, but the former Military Advocate General herself.
We have already become accustomed to the fact that suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings in Israel are easy prey for the media. Nowadays, it is permitted to humiliate them, harass them, and hunt them down. This happens upon leaving the detention center, at home, in the garden, while running errands and during family outings, and worst of all — in the courtroom. The events in which, according to reports, the former Military Advocate General admitted to, are serious. A member of the system who leaks investigation materials for publication betrays the values upon which law enforcement is based. Here, additional severity is added due to the system of deception operated against the court, and not just any court, but the Supreme Court, which, due to the rules of procedure prevailing in it, lacks the ability to verify facts and relies on what state prosecutors write to it, including lies in affidavits they submit without minimal scrutiny.
However, even a suspect in despicable acts has rights, and even the little dignity that remains for them must be protected. True, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi's world did not "collapse": she destroyed it with her own hands. Be that as it may, it is a fact that she sits today in a ruined house, and therefore whoever pursues her when she goes out to the street is a person to whom the term 'wolf' does a favor, as he behaves like a different kind of animal, those that do not hunt prey that can already escape or fight back. This public humiliation is utilized by investigative bodies knowingly and intentionally to damage a person's inner strength, break their spirit, and bring them to confess, both to acts they committed and to those they did not.
Recently, at the initiative of MK Eitan Ginzburg, a law was passed that I hope will put an end to the shoving of cameras and microphones into the faces of suspects who are brought from detention rooms and exposed to the public in the courtroom. Until now, it has been accepted in our enlightened state that the 'parade of shame' imposed on someone who, let us remember, is presumed innocent, includes these embarrassing and sad shots of faces deprived of sleep, full of tension, anxiety, and stubble, in a hall where they are supposed to be protected from humiliation, even if not protected from accusation. Those Channel 14 people who chased the Military Advocate General lookalike are surely shocked when they see what is done to Benjamin Netanyahu in court. And indeed, a defendant, even if he is powerful, is entitled to expect that the trial will be conducted in a sterile hall, not only from assassins' bullets but also from shouts from the audience. It is inconceivable that defense attorneys should have to clear their way to perform their mission through people who shout at them and behave towards them in a threatening manner.
The case of the former Military Advocate General will be investigated. The questions polarizing the nation will also be resolved sooner or later and will become chapters of history. The more long-term disturbing question is what kind of public culture we will be left with here after this era. If we desire a proper society, it is important that first of all we show humanity towards the weak, understand that a decent criminal enforcement system is one that must act decisively against suspects and defendants, but that the campaign cannot include personal physical harassment and humiliation beyond what is already mandated by the painful and necessary process — the criminal trial.
Dan Eldad is a partner at the Eldad-Peretz law firm, former director of the Economic Department at the State Attorney's Office and Acting State Attorney.
