Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Tuesday announced his plan to appoint a retired judge as a special prosecutor to lead the investigation into former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.
Levin argued that Judge Asher Kula, currently the country’s state Ombudsman for Judges, would replace Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom he claimed cannot participate due to a conflict of interest. In a defensive position, the AG dismissed Levin’s claims of a conflict of interest as unfounded and insisted the Justice Minister lacks the authority to bypass her office.
The conflict, according to Levin, is that the AG's office previously submitted legal arguments to Israel’s High Court of Justice on behalf of the Military Advocate General’s Office, which he contended were inaccurate and misleading. Although the Justice Minister announced his intention to make this change, Levin’s authority does not officially permit him to decide on his own to displace the AG.
The accused, Tomer-Yerushalmi, who recently resigned as the IDF’s top legal officer, is likely to be questioned on suspicion of obstructing an investigation, submitting a false document to the High Court of Justice, fraud, breach of trust, abuse of authority, and concealment of evidence.
Levin Taps Judge Kula to Lead Ex-MAG Tomer-Yerushalmi Probe
“I believe that the Ombudsman for Judges, both as an institution and personally, is the best possible solution to what is required in this case,” Levin said. “His appointment will enjoy broad public trust, which is necessary in the circumstances in which we find ourselves.”
The Justice Minister formally informed interim Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz of his intention to assign Kula to the investigation, stating that the retired judge had agreed to take the position. Kula, 71, served as deputy president of the Nazareth District Court before becoming the Ombudsman for Judges.
Police Suspect Ex-MAG Staged Suicide to Destroy Evidence
Further, the defense lawyers argued that she has not tried to contact the other suspects to get them to obstruct the probe for over a week since her legal situation became clear to her, a sign that she will not do so going forward, which would support freeing her from detention.
However, the police pointed out that all of the mysterious events surrounding her disappearance on Sunday night may have been an elaborate scheme to destroy her phone in the Mediterranean Sea, a major form of obstruction of the investigation.
Tomer-Yerushalmi, who admitted to leaking the video and announced her resignation from the post on Friday, went missing for several hours on Sunday night after disappearing along the Tel Aviv coastline. The police launched a search after losing contact with her since the morning; she failed to show up for scheduled meetings.
Her car was found abandoned on the beach, and the status of her personal phone remains unclear. In the evening, she was located on Herzliya Beach and referred for psychiatric evaluation, as the police had a suspicion that she staged a suicide attempt to destroy evidence.
In his remarks at the beginning of Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident “perhaps the most severe propaganda attack that the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment. I don’t remember one that was so focused. This requires an independent and impartial investigation, and I expect that one will also be carried out.”
The Sde Teiman facility, established in southern Israel after the outbreak of the Gaza war, has held more than 1,000 detainees from Gaza suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.