Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was named the Israel Defense Forces’ next military advocate general and the second female major general in the country’s history on Thursday. Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved her nomination by IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit was also consulted about the appointment, Gantz’s office said.“Tomer-Yerushalmi is first and foremost a wonderful lawyer, with experience and a rich background in all fields needed for the military advocate general. I am sure that she will carry out her work excellently, dealing with the complicated missions that are on the docket, including defending IDF soldiers, international law, and assisting the operational echelon in carrying out their work in accordance with the law,” Gantz said in a statement.Tomer-Yerushalmi will take over for Maj. Gen. Sharon Afek, himself the first openly gay major general in the IDF.
The military in recent years has faced criticism for failing to promote women to senior positions, as noted by Kohavi earlier this year with a pledge to address the matter.
Gantz, who as IDF chief of staff promoted the first female major general, current Economy Minister Orna Barbivai, hailed Tomer-Yerushalmi as a “trailblazer,” who overhauled the legal status and legal protections for women in the military and fought sexual harassment.
“As defense minister, I am proud to name her the second woman at the rank of major general, and I am sure she won’t be the last,” Gantz said.
Tomer-Yerushalmi will receive the rank of major general immediately upon entering her position, unlike her predecessor Afek who maintained the rank of brigadier general for his first three years in the position before being promoted to major general.
When Tomer-Yerushalmi replaces him, Afek will have served as military advocate general for roughly six years, overseeing a number of high profile cases, including the conviction of Brig. Gen. Ofer Buchris for sexual offenses and the Hebron shooter (Elor Azaria) case, as well as overseeing investigations into the 2014 Gaza war and the IDF’s responses to the 2018 Gaza border riots.
Tomer-Yerushalmi currently serves as the chief of staff’s adviser on gender issues, and previously served in a number of positions in the Military Advocate General Corps and in the military judiciary.
She has dual master’s degrees in law, one from Tel Aviv University and one from the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Earlier this year, Kohavi announced plans to increase the number of female senior officers by 50% within the next five years.
Until now, Kohavi had not promoted a women to the rank of major general, and only one to the rank of brigadier general — an officer tapped to serve as the chief intelligence officer of Central Command.
According to a recent Haaretz tally, of the nearly 200 officers promoted to the rank of colonel under Kohavi, 19 have been women.
This marks the first time a UN body has reached such a conclusion, and is “the strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date”, its authors have said.
In the wake of the report, Keir Starmer is now facing calls to “do all he can” to make Donald Trump act over Gaza when the President arrives in the UK later.
The Israeli foreign ministry dismissed the publication as an “antisemitic ... distorted and false report”, adding that Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, which sparked this conflict, was itself “attempted genocide”.
In its 72-page report, the UN Commission found that since October 2023 Israel has committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The commission also concluded that Israeli president Isaac Herzog, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have incited the commission of genocide.
It warned that UN member states could face legal consequences if they fail to act.
Starving Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, wait to receive food (AFP/Getty)
“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention,” said Navi Pillay, the chair of the commission and a South African jurist who served as the UN high commissioner for human rights until 2014.
“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons, who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza,” Pillay added.
“The commission finds that the Israeli authorities had no intention to change their course of action. On the contrary, Israeli authorities have persisted and continued with their genocidal campaign in Gaza for almost two years.”
She urged Israel to end the genocide in Gaza and comply fully with the orders for provisional measures of the International Court of Justice and for UN members state to also act.
”The ongoing genocide is a moral outright and legal emergency member states must act now,” she said at a press conference after the release of the investigation. “There is no need to wait for the ICJ to declare it a genocide, all states are obligated to use whatever means are in its power to prevent the commission of genocide”
Palestinian children go through rubbish as they look for plastic to burn in Gaza City (AP)
The Commission said its findings are based on some 16,000 pieces of evidential material pointing to systematic and unprecedented killings, the destruction of homes and cultural sites, deliberate starvation, denial and destruction of the healthcare system, sexual and gender-based violence, and the direct targeting of children.
In response to Tuesday’s report, the Israeli foreign ministry called for the commission to be abolished, accused the authors of anti-semitism and claimed the report relied on Hamas falsehoods, “laundered and repeated by others”.
Chris Sidoti, an Australian human lawyer who is also in the Commission sharply dismissed the criticisms at a press conference on Tuesday saying “the Israeli responses are becoming so boring” that it is almost as if “they are producing the responses by Chat GPT”.
In August, Mr Netanyahu rejected the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. At a meeting with Israeli reporters, he was reported as saying: “If we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon.”
Genocide was codified in a 1948 convention drawn up after the horrors of the Holocaust. It defines genocide as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza on foot and in vehicles on Monday (AP)
It outlines five genocidal acts as: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The UN Commission’s report concludes that since October 2023, Israel has committed four of the five.
They cite the massive bombardment of Gaza that has killed over 64,000 people according to Palestinian health authorities, the forced displacement of most of the two million-strong population, the destruction of the healthcare system, as well as the blocking of essential aid, food, water, and electricity that has led to famine.
The aftermath of an Israeli air raid in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, in February (AP)
The report is the first time a UN body addresses the issue of intention to prevent births which is part of the Genocide Convention, citing the December 2023 bombing of the Al Basma IVF Centre, Gaza’s largest fertility clinic. The attack reportedly destroyed 4,000 embryos, as well as 1,000 sperm samples and unfertilised eggs.
Many western countries, including the UK – an arms supplier to Israel – have said that only a court can rule on whether genocide has been committed. A case against Israel is currently before the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice.
David Lammy, now deputy prime minister, set this out the UK government’s position in a 1 September letter to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, where he stated that the government “has carefully considered the risk of genocide, including when permitting exports to the F-35 [fighter jet] global programme”.
He acknowledged that the high civilian casualties, particularly among women and children, and the extensive destruction in Gaza are “utterly appalling”, and said Israel must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering caused by the conflict. However, he stopped short of declaring genocide.
“As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
David Lammy has called the high civilian casualties ‘utterly appalling’, but has stopped short of declaring genocide (PA Wire)
“The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent,” he wrote, adding that the UK is waiting for the findings from the ICJ.
The Commission’s chair Pillay said at the Tuesday press conference waiting for the ICJ to rule - which could take as long as a decade - was too late.
“The Genocide Convention imposes an obligation on states to prevent and prevent genocide. How will they do that if we all sit and wait for some court - if ever - to determine genocide has occurred?” she added.
The Independent also contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to ask whether the new UN Commission report might change the UK’s position, but has yet to receive a response.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: "The horrors in Gaza must stop. And when the one man with the power to make it stop – Donald Trump – arrives in the UK today, Keir Starmer must do all he can to make the President act."
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the Independent: “In the light of this report what more evidence does the government need to introduce comprehensive sanctions on Israel, end all arms sales and expel the Israeli ambassador the mouthpiece of the regime committing these war crimes.”
The UN body urges Israel to end the commission of genocide and implement a complete permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as allowing unfettered access of aid to Gaza.
It urged foreign states to employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent the commission of genocide in Gaza, and to cease the transfer of arms to Israel.
Columbia Universityannounced Thursday it's disciplining students involved in theoccupation of a campus buildingduringprotestsagainst the Israel-Hamas war last spring.
The big picture: The move comes after the Trump administration last week pulled some $400 million in federal grants and contracts from the university over allegations of antisemitism and after federal agents arrested a Columbia protest leader.
Driving the news: Columbia's five-member University Judicial Board issued punishments to students, including multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations and expulsions "in relation to the occupation of Hamilton Hall last spring," the university said in a statement.
"With respect to other events taking place last spring, the UJB's determinations recognized previously imposed disciplinary action," the statement adds.
The disciplinary actions come after the completion of a months-long process that included investigations and hearings.
It was not immediately clear how many students have received such punishments. The university did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.
Context: The building takeover was part of an escalation of campus protests sweeping the nation over the Israel-Hamas war last spring, with Columbia as the movement's epicenter.
Dozens of protesters breached an administrative building at the Ivy League campus in Manhattan in April 2024, barricading entrances and flying a Palestinian flag out a window.
At the time, the protesters inside Hamilton Hall were ordered to leave or face expulsion or even charges of burglary in the third degree, criminal mischief and trespassing.
The occupation came after the university began suspending students for refusing to leave their on-campus encampment.
