Career
In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he was the officer who directed the assault that ended in the conquest of Saffuriyah, and his memory of the event confirms the version of events given by the Palestinians who fled. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Yermiya was expelled from his unit for voicing public criticism of the Israel Defense Forces"s treatment of civilians. In his diary account of the artillery and aerial assault on the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, he wrote that the quantity of bombs used to bomb the area reminded him of World War 2.
He turned down an appointment that would have made him Military Governor of Nazareth.
Published in defiance of censorship laws, it provoked, according to the publishers, "widespread controversy when it was first published in Israel", but was ignored by western media. The book criticized Israeli actions during the war, and was first published in Hebrew with the title "Yoman Hamilchama Sheli".
lieutenant was later translated to English and published by South End Press. The book has been given some attention by western intellectuals, such as the United States writer Noam Chomsky.
The Israeli army relieved him from duty. for the bad."
In July 2009, Yermiya wrote to friends expressing his despair at the situation in Israel and Palestine, and concluding
Yermiya died on 30 January 2016, at his home on Kibbutz Eilon.