Defense Minister Benny Gantz has decided to appoint Brig.-Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi as Military Advocate General (MAG) on Thursday.
Tomer-Yerushalmi will be promoted to the rank of Maj.-Gen. and will become only the second woman in the IDF to hold this rank, after Economy Minister Orna Barbivay.
She will replace current MAG Maj.-Gen. Sharon Afek, who is leaving the role after six years in office.
The appointment is at the recommendation of IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi and following consultations with Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit.
Benny Gantz took to Twitter to congratulate Tomer-Yerushalmi on her appointment:
החלטתי למנות בהמלצת הרמטכ״ל את תא"ל יפעת תומר ירושלמי לפרקליטה הצבאית הראשית בצה"ל. אחרי שקידמתי את מינוי האלופה הראשונה בצה״ל בזמן היותי רמטכ״ל, אני גאה על הזכות לעשות זאת שוב כשר ביטחון. pic.twitter.com/WLTT6FUu0Z
— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) July 15, 2021
"Tomer-Yerushlami is an experienced and outstanding legal scholar, holding extensive knowledge in the workings of the MAG's office," said Gantz in a statement.
"She is also a groundbreaking woman who advanced several gender-equality reforms in her current role. I am proud to promote her to the rank of Maj.-Gen. and I am sure she won't be the last," added the Defense Minister.
The Military Advocate General's responsibility is to assure that the rule of law is being implemented within the IDF.
Legally representing the IDF in front of institutional bodies, the MAG supplies legal advice to senior authorities in the IDF on military and international law, as well as supervising over the rules of conduct, investigatory arms and the military detention centers of the IDF.
The MAG has been the center of major Israeli points of discussion in the last few years. Most noticeably Afek's decision to indict Elor Azaria for manslaughter in 2016.
"Our soldiers are more afraid of the MAG than they are of Yahya Sinwar," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in 2018 when he was acting education minister.
