IDF top lawyer claims ‘temporary amnesia’ on missing phone, leak

Israel’s top military attorney is accused of leaking a damaging video, lying about it, and trying to cover her tracks by disposing of her personal cell phone in the Mediterranean Sea.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israeli military’s top attorney, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who was arrested Sunday evening over suspicions that she lied about the release of a damaging video and later covered up its origin within her office, is reportedly refusing to cooperate with investigators.

Police sources told Hebrew-language media that Tomer-Yerushalmi is claiming she cannot remember key details about the scandal, or her whereabouts in recent days.

Tomer-Yerushalmi officially resigned from her position as the IDF’s Attorney General last Friday.

In her resignation letter, she admitted that she had approved the leak of a video that appeared to show Israeli soldiers abusing a Palestinian terrorist in custody.

Just 48 hours later, she vanished. Police launched an emergency search after what appeared to be suicide notes were found — one at her home and another in her car, which was discovered parked near a beach in north Tel Aviv.

After hours of searching by police and rescue forces, Tomer-Yerushalmi was located alive and in good condition on Sunday evening.

However, police insiders told Channel 12 News on Monday that they are skeptical about the circumstances of the suicide scare, suggesting that her disappearance may have been a manipulative act, possibly intended to generate public sympathy — and provide an excuse to dispose of her cellphone, believed to contain incriminating evidence regarding the leak and attempted cover-up.

During a recent interrogation, Tomer-Yerushalmi reportedly claimed she “can’t remember” whether she disposed of her phone in the water. When asked directly about its whereabouts, she allegedly responded, “I have no idea, I might have dropped it into the sea.”

She additionally claimed she could not recall where she was during the hours that police were searching for her, nor provide details on how she eventually contacted her husband.

Kan News reported that transcripts from a WhatsApp group chat between Tomer-Yerushalmi and senior members of her office show that she explicitly approved the leak. According to the report, she and others discussed ways to counter right-wing criticism of the investigation into the soldiers accused of abusing the detainee.

Tomer-Yerushalmi allegedly agreed to a “targeted leak” of the video, writing, “Now we’re taking this into our own hands.”

The Palestinian detainee shown in the video was one of thousands of security prisoners released to Gaza in October as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that freed 20 living Israeli hostages.