Ex-military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned from the Israel Defense Forces over a scandal, went missing on Sunday for several hours before being located alive and well, authorities said.
Hebrew media outlets in Israel ignited a firestorm that lasted less than an hour on Sunday evening, when they revealed that authorities were searching on land and in the sea with flares and helicopters for the IDF’s former top lawyer, after her family had reported her missing to the police.
The large search, involving police, rescue forces, and the military, was carried out after she was unreachable for several hours, and her car was later found at Hatzuk Beach near Tel Aviv. Hebrew media outlets reported that she had left a letter at home, which some characterized as a “suicide note.”
After some two hours of searches, Tomer-Yerushalmi made contact with her husband and was located alive and well along a beach in nearby Herzliy a, according to the police.
Police had reportedly tracked her personal phone number to the area, but were still unable to find the device itself as of late Sunday night. A police source speaking to Channel 12 told the outlet that “at this moment it is not known to us where her personal phone is. We understand that it has ‘disappeared.’”
Tel Aviv District police commander Haim Sargarof told reporters that the ex-IDF official was taken for a health checkup and would then arrive at a police station in the city for questioning.
Addressing press gathered on the beach, Sargarof said law enforcement sprang into action after receiving a report that she had gone missing. Police arrived at the Hatzuk Beach near Tel Aviv and began searches “with boosted forces,” said Sargarof. “Of course, we used all means at our disposal, including in the sea and on land, as well as technological means.”
Unverified Hebrew media reports claimed that the letter found in her home included a line reading: “I love you, take care of yourselves,” generating serious concern for her life.
In an appeal to the public for calm on Sunday evening, President Isaac Herzog implored people to “stop the accusations and mutual attacks!” in a Hebrew-language post on X.
“Alongside the sense of relief, the past hours compel us to draw immediate lessons,” he added. “As a society and as a nation, we will still need to investigate and learn much about the past few days and this deeply troubling affair, with all the implications that follow.”
The president said that “words that spiral out of control ignite a dangerous fire — and endanger lives. It is now essential to lower the flames, to show humanity and sensitivity.”
Tomer-Yerushalmi is set to be questioned under caution as part of a criminal investigation into the leak. She resigned on Friday after admitting that she had leaked a video to the media that purportedly showed soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian security detainee at the Sde Teiman military detention facility last year.
A protest by IDF reservists that had been scheduled outside her home for Sunday evening was subsequently canceled.
Tomer-Yerushalmi had been on leave from the IDF since a criminal investigation was launched by police last week into the leaking of the surveillance video. On Friday, she presented Zamir with a resignation letter, acknowledging that she had approved the leaking of the abuse video.
The leaked footage showed soldiers at Sde Teiman taking aside one of the detainees, who had been lying face down on the floor, then surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility while they allegedly committed the abuse. The detainee was subsequently taken away for treatment for severe injuries.
Earlier this year, military prosecutors filed an indictment against five reserve soldiers for the abuse. According to the indictment, the five soldiers severely beat and assaulted the prisoner after he was brought to the detention facility on July 5, 2024, leaving him with severe injuries, including broken ribs and an internal tear in his rectum.
The high-profile investigation into the abuse caused outrage among coalition politicians, government ministers, and right-wing activists. When the reservists were detained on July 29, 2024, dozens broke into the detention facility and another army base in an attempt to thwart the arrests.
Anti-government activist said probed
Meanwhile, police were reportedly investigating prominent anti-government activist Shikma Bressler, after she made a post prematurely blaming police for Tomer-Yerushalmi’s death — deleting it after she was located alive.
Israel Police chief Danny Levy instructed law enforcement to investigate Bressler on suspicion of incitement and obstruction of an investigation, according to Hebrew media outlets, after she tweeted that “those who incited against Rabin gained power over the police,” as authorities searched for Tomer-Yerushalmi.
Bressler accused law enforcement of failing to protect soldiers or the state prosecutor’s office when “an incited mob from within the Knesset and without broke into Sde Teiman and Beit Lid,” referring to two military bases that were stormed by a right-wing mob protesting the Military Police’s arrest of several soldiers suspected of abusing the inmate.
It was “under this abhorrent pressure that the military advocate general made a mistake,” Bressler continued, referring to the leak. She added that “there should be no doubt; the same ideology that brought about Rabin’s murder also pushed the military advocate general to her death.” After Tomer-Yerushalmi was found, Bressler deleted the tweet.
Likud party spokesman Guy Levy also tweeted during the period when Tomer-Yerushalmi was missing, directly blaming Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for “all this madness.”
Levy asserted that Baharav-Miara should have detained the former IDF official, confiscated her phone and “even placed her under protective custody,” demanding that the attorney general “be arrested and interrogated tonight.”
Likud MK Tali Gotliv posts that “the Military Advocate General belongs in jail! Her so-called ‘suicide attempt’ is an attempt to regain control of the public discourse, to remove from the headlines the disgrace of her actions, and once again to smear people on the right.”
A number of opposition figures, including The Democrats chairman Yair Golan, slammed the incitement against Tomer-Yerushalmi and comparing it to that against prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated 30 years ago this week.
“Thirty years after Rabin’s assassination, this same method of labeling ‘traitors’ and encouraging political violence continues,” Golan wrote on X. “The incitement will only stop after those leading it are removed from power.”
The next appointee
Defense Minister Israel Katz met earlier Sunday with Zamir to discuss appointing a new military advocate general. Zamir presented Katz with several candidates for the role.
The Kan public broadcaster cited Katz’s “inner circle” as saying that the next military advocate general must come from “outside the system,” meaning someone who did not serve in the Military Advocate General’s office.
But according to the Military Justice Law — the legal framework for military jurisdiction in Israel — the military advocate general must be “a military attorney with at least seven years of legal experience,” which removes the possibility of a civilian legal expert, or even a senior IDF officer who is not an attorney, serving in the role.
In a statement Sunday night, Zamir said he remained “confident that the Military Advocate General’s office will continue to fulfill its role as expected and required of it by all of us. Even if some officers acted in a grave and improper manner, I have full confidence in our ability to emerge stronger from this difficult event and to restore trust in the MAG.”
The IDF chief said that the military “will do everything possible to maintain stability, appoint a new military advocate general, and ensure that the IDF continues to operate according to the law in carrying out its missions.”
The military opened a detention facility at a base located in Sde Teiman in southern Israel, due to an influx of Palestinian detainees as the war in Gaza proceeded, to hold Gazans suspected of terror activities.
Various reports have alleged widespread misconduct and abuse at the site, including extreme use of physical restraints, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments, and more.
Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.
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