Can Israel remain the strong, proud democracy it must be to survive when the war for its existence is fought not only on the battlefield but inside its own institutions?
Shock and countershock seized Israel on Sunday, as the nation held its breath over the fate of Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the newly suspended military advocate general.
A distinguished general, lawyer and one of the most capable women ever to rise within the Israel Defense Forces, she vanished early in the morning and was later found alive after what seemed a desperate attempt to flee the fury of public opinion.
The story of her collapse is more than a personal tragedy. It mirrors the storm that is gripping Israel itself—a country fighting for its life against Hamas while also battling a corrosive internal war over ideology, truth and loyalty.
