Israel in an official panic over a missing mobile phone contain classified information
Israeli diving teams are racing on the Herzliya beach in search of a mobile phone believed to contain secrets that threaten senior military and security leaders in Israel.
The phone belongs to former military prosecutor Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who was arrested in connection with a scandal involving the leaking of a video showing Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman prison.
Israeli police have launched an investigation into Yerushalmi, led by a senior officer seconded from the Ministry of Defense, amid assessments that the phone that disappeared shortly before her arrest contained dangerous correspondence and evidence that could bring down big names within the military establishment, reflecting official panic among Israeli officials over the repercussions of the case.
Israeli divers along with civilians and metal detector enthusiasts, are participating in the frantic search for the phone, in a race against time, amid official confusion about who ordered the operation.
The investigation indicates that Yerushalmi may have played a central role in leaking footage showing the brutal assault of a Palestinian prisoner by reserve soldiers, and that this occurred via a WhatsApp group that included senior military prosecution officers.
She and others are also accused of providing misleading statements to conceal the incident and obstruct the judicial investigation.
Israeli security sources warned that the loss of the phone would make it difficult to uncover the network involved in the leak and cover it up, while the judiciary might force the accused to hand over the passwords to access her messages.
The Tel Aviv Magistrates’ Court extended the detention of Yerushalmi and rejected her appeal to the Central Court.
It also prohibited her from being photographed inside the session, in a clear attempt to prevent the spread of images showing the extent of the crisis within the legal and military system in Israel.
