Israel is under unprecedented delegitimization attacks for false war crimes accusations by global entities like the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the UN Secretary-General's Office, IDF Military Advocate General (MAG) Maj. Gen. Itay Offir said on Monday in his first major public speech since taking office in November 2025.
Offir noted that South Africa recently requested a postponement of 18 months to respond to the Israeli defense team's latest brief in an alleged genocide case before the ICJ.
He called the ICJ case completely false and said his staff and other arms of the government's legal apparatus would continue to combat the charges for years to come.
Likewise, Offir mentioned the ICC proceedings, which publicly already seek to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and, privately, reportedly seek to arrest Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Settlements Minister Orit Strook, and two unnamed top IDF officials.
Further, he referenced the recent UN Secretary-General report placing Israel on a blacklist of countries that commit sexual violence in warzones as an additional made-up charge.
Offir said that his role as the MAG is to enable the IDF to fight its wars to win with legitimacy.
To accomplish this, he said that his staff, along with other legal arms of the government, must regularly confront constantly expanding attempts to besmirch Israel's name across the globe,
Offir withdraws indictments against soldiers in Sdei Teiman affair
At the same time, Offir said his role is to probe and prosecute any IDF soldiers who violate applicable laws and IDF values.
To date, Offir's first major public decision was to withdraw indictments against five IDF soldiers who were indicted in the saga of the alleged beating of a Palestinian detainee at the IDF's Sdei Teiman detention facility.
Offir did not clear the five soldiers of wrongdoing, but rather said that the extraordinary circumstances in which their fair trial rights were violated by his predecessor, Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, who admitted to illegally publicly leaking a video prior to trial, which appears to show the soldiers involved in beating the detainee, meant that the trial would be to difficult to prosecute successfully.
In that Sdei Teiman decision, Offir also noted that prior to his taking office, the detainee himself, a critical witness, had been unexplainably sent back to Gaza without collecting testimony from him, harming any potential case even more.
Offir has not yet made any major public announcements, newly indicting soldiers for harm to Palestinians.
Previously, The Jerusalem Post has reported that dozens of probes into alleged war crimes by IDF soldiers have been closed, but not publicly announced due to fears that any publicly released details will be used and abused by the ICJ and ICC against Israel.
There are also other suspicions of wide-ranging theft from Palestinians and Lebanese by some IDF soldiers, which IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir has acknowledged and warned publicly.
One of Offir's key roles is to restore public confidence in the IDF's legal division after Tomer-Yerushalmi and some of her top aides had to resign and will likely be prosecuted for leaking the Sdei Teiman video.
First speech to Bar Association since May 2024
Offir's speech was the first to the Israel Bar Association since May 2024, after Defense Minister Israel Katz blocked Tomer-Yerushalmi from speaking in mid-2025, unrelated to the Sdei Teiman leaked video issue, which did not come out until close to the end of 2025.
Katz has tried hard to undermine the legal establishment, along with other efforts by leading coalition officials.
So far, Offir has not been attacked publicly by Katz.
Offir was appointed by Katz after working as his legal advisor and that of several other defense ministers, and as the top lawyer in the Defense Ministry for seven years.
He is viewed as more politically conservative and politically savvy than the typical IDF MAG.