IDF top attorney arrested after suicide scare, video leak

Israel’s top military attorney Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was taken into custody, days after she admitted to her role in the leak of a highly sensitive video to the media.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israeli military’s top attorney, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, was taken into police custody Sunday evening following a frenzied search amid fears she intended to take her own life, after admitting to leaking a damaging video to the media.

Tomer-Yerushalmi, 51, was found alive on a Tel Aviv beach late Sunday night after an hours-long search by police and rescue froces.

The drama began on Friday, when Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned from her position as the IDF’s Attorney General following a scandal involving members of her office who leaked a video showing Israeli soldiers allegedly abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention center.

The video, which was leaked in July 2024, immediately sparked international uproar. According to Hebrew-language media reports, Tomer-Yerushalmi and a number of her colleagues are believed to have been involved in an internal cover-up obscuring the origin of the leak.

On Sunday, police launched an intensive search after Tomer-Yerushalmi, a married mother of three, left what appeared to be suicide notes at her home in Ramat HaSharon and in her car, which was parked near a beach in north Tel Aviv.

However, a Channel 12 News report Monday morning cited police sources expressing doubts that Tomer-Yerushalmi actually intended to end her life.

Authorities reportedly suspect that the event may have been an attempt to manipulate public opinion and influence the outcome of potential criminal charges against her — while also allowing her time to dispose of her personal cellphone, which investigators believe could contain incriminating evidence.

In her resignation letter submitted to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir last week, Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted approving the leak of the video, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “the most serious PR attack against Israel” since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.

Tomer-Yerushalmi claimed that leaking the video was intended to demonstrate that the investigation into soldiers’ conduct was legitimate, not a “witch hunt.”

She wrote that her decision was meant to counter “slanderous statements directed” at her office, after critics accused the military prosecution of “favoring terrorists” over Israeli soldiers.

Former military prosecutor Matan Solomesh was also arrested Sunday evening. Both Tomer-Yerushalmi and Solomesh are expected to face criminal charges related to the leak and subsequent cover-up.