Investigators believe ex-Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi staged suicide attempt to erase evidence from missing phone tied to Sde Teiman affair.
In a shocking twist to Israel’s most scandalous military-legal drama in years, investigators now suspect that former Military Advocate General (MAG) Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi faked her alleged suicide attempt earlier this week in a desperate bid to destroy incriminating evidence linked to the explosive Sde Teiman affair.
According to a Channel 12 News report aired Tuesday night, police and Shin Bet officials are increasingly convinced that Tomer-Yerushalmi orchestrated the incident to evade imminent arrest and eliminate her mobile phone — a device investigators believe contains sensitive proof of misconduct, leaks, and possible coordination with senior legal officials.
The once-powerful MAG was arrested Sunday after a dramatic disappearance that triggered hours of public concern and a nationwide search. She was later found alive and claimed she had attempted suicide due to public pressure, humiliation, and threats to her family.
But investigators didn’t buy her story.
“I couldn’t bear the slander, the humiliation, the threats — this week was hell,” Tomer-Yerushalmi reportedly told police. “I left a letter for my children and decided to end my life.”
The interrogating officer sharply dismissed her account, saying:
“It’s all a bluff. You staged a show to avoid arrest. We never believed this was real — it was a performance.”
Sources inside the police investigation described the event as “a well-rehearsed deception” and confirmed that no external party appeared to assist her in the apparent hoax.
The former MAG’s missing phone remains the central focus of the investigation. Authorities suspect it contains classified messages, video evidence, and correspondence tied to the unauthorized leak of footage from the Sde Teiman detention facility, where alleged mistreatment of Hamas terrorists was filmed and leaked to the media — reportedly under Tomer-Yerushalmi’s direct instruction.
Tomer-Yerushalmi has so far denied informing senior legal officials, including the State Attorney and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, about the leak — a claim investigators view as strategic distancing to protect higher-ups.
Her arrest came after Defense Minister Israel Katz dismissed her earlier this month, describing her conduct as a “systemic collapse” that undermined IDF morale and protected bureaucratic elites at the expense of soldiers on the front lines.
As the probe deepens, Israeli legal and political circles are bracing for a storm. The scandal — already exposing deep fractures between the IDF’s legal establishment and political leadership — now threatens to pull in senior judicial officials accused of shielding Tomer-Yerushalmi for months.
A senior police source summed up the gravity of the case:
“This isn’t just a personal fall — it’s an institutional earthquake. The public deserves the full truth.”
