Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he signed off on the appointment of the incoming Military Advocate General Itay Offir, former legal advisor to the Defense Ministry.
Ofir will replace Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi following her resignation over her suspected role in leaking a video allegedly showing soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza at Israel’s Sde Teiman military facility.
According to the Defense Minister’s announcement, Offir will take office in two weeks, on November 24.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Katz for clarification on the choice due to criticism from the Likud party.
Offir had previously received training through the Wexner Foundation, an organization criticized by Likud officials for its “left-wing bias.” Minister of Communications and Likud MK Shlomo Karhi had previously accused the foundation of spreading “anti-democratic poison that will infiltrate the minds of our most senior civil servants.”
Before becoming the defense ministry’s legal adviser, Offir was a partner at the law firm Tadmor & Co., where Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara served as an external adviser before being appointed as attorney general.
For more on the legal chief’s appointment, read here.
