The Israel Defense Forces’ former military advocate general, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, will remain in detention until at least Friday, the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court said on Wednesday, ruling on a police request.
“There is reasonable suspicion that she committed the offenses attributed to her,” Judge Shelly Kotin wrote in the court ruling.
“Upon reviewing the list of planned investigative actions, there are actions that are vulnerable to obstruction, which necessitate the continued detention of the suspect,” the ruling stated.
Police seized an Apple Watch during a search of Tomer-Yerushalmi’s home, it became clear during Wednesday’s hearing. The former MAG provided detectives with the password to access the device, police said.
Tomer-Yerushalmi did not appear in person and participated in the hearing via video link due to her alleged condition following her Sunday disappearance and purported suicide attempt.
Police continue to believe that she faked the attempt in order to evade arrest and tamper with evidence, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News, citing leaks from Tomer-Yerushalmi’s interrogation on Tuesday night.
“It’s all a bluff ... You were just trying to avoid arrest,” one detective told Tomer-Yerushalmi, according to the report. He went on to describe Sunday evening’s dramatic events as a “perfectly staged performance.”
Tomer-Yerushalmi reportedly told them: “None of you really understand what I’ve been through lately—I really meant it.”
“I could no longer stand the public pressure, slander, humiliation and threats to my life and my family,” Tomer-Yerushalmi explained. “My life became hell, so I decided to end my life and left a note for the children.”
Tomer-Yerushalmi, who has admitted to approving the leak of a video connected to the Sde Teiman affair, disappeared on Sunday for several hours, sparking a full-scale manhunt in an ongoing drama that has rocked the nation.
The former MAG’s disappearance was initially thought to be a potential suicide as her car was found abandoned at the beach and she had left a brief, obscure note for her family, which said, in part, “Don’t look back.”
She was located several hours after her disappearance. In the interim, her phone had disappeared. During initial police questioning, when asked about the device, Tomer-Yerushalmi told them: “Maybe my phone fell into the sea. I don’t remember,” per media reports.
The police asked: “Where did you disappear for three hours? An entire country was looking for you. Your family was crying out with worry.”
She replied: “I’m confused, I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
The police asked how she had managed to call her husband. She said, “Someone I encountered in the vicinity gave me his phone.” Asked for the identity of the person, she said she couldn’t remember anymore.
On Monday, the Tel Aviv District Court had extended Tomer-Yerushalmi’s detention until Wednesday. The former IDF advocate general was suspected of fraud, breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice and the passing of information by a public servant.
The affair started in July 2024, when IDF Military Police arrested nine soldiers as part of the probe into alleged abuse of a Hamas terrorist at the Sde Teiman makeshift detention center, located in the Negev.
“Following a suspicion of serious abuse of a detainee who was held in the prison facility, an investigation by the Military Police was opened by order of the Military Advocate General’s Office,” the IDF said at the time.
During the probe, security camera footage allegedly documenting an assault on the terrorist was leaked to Israel’s Channel 12 News outlet.
Last week, Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted to the leak, claiming that she had done so to “fend off false propaganda directed against military law enforcement authorities.”
The probe into the incident, the arrest of the troops and the subsequent leak sparked outrage among many right-wing Israelis and lawmakers.
(A medical opinion submitted to the court suggested the reservists could be innocent, and it was recently revealed that the terrorist at the heart of the case has been deported to the Gaza Strip as part of last month’s ceasefire deal.)
According to the Channel 12 report on Tuesday evening, Tomer-Yerushalmi has claimed during questioning that the unlawful conduct did not extend beyond her office.
Kan News reported on Wednesday that the decision to leak the footage was made in a WhatsApp group consisting of seven senior officers in the Military Advocate General’s Office, including Tomer-Yerushalmi and Chief Military Prosecutor Col. Matan Solomesh, who is suspected of playing a role in the conspiracy and was also arrested on Sunday.
In the WhatsApp convo, the seven expressed “harsh criticism” of then- IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and the military’s then spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. “They are not defending us,” one officer was said to have written following the criticism of the Sde Teiman arrests.
The group reportedly debated how to respond, and two proposals were raised: to hold a briefing for Israeli military reporters without releasing investigation materials, or to carry out a “targeted leak” of the video.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday blamed Tomer-Yerushalmi for “perhaps the most severe public relations attack the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment.”
The leaked footage “caused immense damage to the image of the State of Israel and the IDF, to our soldiers,” he said ahead of a Cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu said the public-relations damage Jerusalem suffered due to the leak was more “focused with such intensity” than any previous assault on Israel’s international legitimacy that he could recall.
“This requires an independent, impartial investigation, and I expect such an investigation to take place,” the premier added, speaking several hours before Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing.
