Public criticism has intensified against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who remains involved in the Sde Teiman case despite her role in submitting a misleading affidavit to the Supreme Court claiming the investigation was complete and that the source of the leaked video from Sde Teiman could not be identified.

Channel 12 reported that even figures from the State Attorney’s Office are criticizing Baharav-Miara’s decision to personally oversee the case. Some warn that if the police deepen their investigation into whether the handling of the affair by the State Attorney’s Office was negligent or biased, it could create a situation in which the Attorney General would have to authorize the collection of testimony from herself or from her staff—placing her in a clear conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Yechiel Kasher recused himself from presiding over the hearing on a petition by bereaved families demanding a thorough investigation into Tomer-Yerushalmi amid allegations of misconduct by the Attorney General in the case.

Earlier this week, only hours before Tomer-Yerushalmi’s “disappearance” at the beach, the Honenu organization, together with bereaved families, filed a petition to the Supreme Court demanding that the Attorney General be ordered to confiscate Tomer-Yerushalmi’s phone (a step that should have been taken immediately after suspicions arose against her last week) and carry out the necessary investigative steps to uncover the truth in the affair.

Supreme Court Justice Kasher initially sought to delay a decision on the petition without disclosing that he had previously worked with Baharav-Miara at the same law firm. However, following Tomer-Yerushalmi’s staged suicide and the disappearance of her phone, Kasher announced on Tuesday morning that he was recusing himself from the case. The case has been transferred to Justice Noam Sohlberg.

Attorney Yosef Ben Baruch, who filed the petition on behalf of Honenu and the Choosing Life Forum, stated, “In this affair, it’s all one hand washing the other. We petitioned the court demanding that Tomer-Yerushalmi be seized immediately, long before she went to ‘commit suicide’ and destroy the device, which is one of the most important and objective pieces of evidence in the case. It could have exposed the involvement of additional parties. Unfortunately, the court chose not to respond to this completely justified request in real time.”

Avishai Grinzaig, legal affairs correspondent for i24NEWS, slammed the conduct of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara regarding the ongoing investigation, questioning why Baharav-Miara did not recuse herself from handling the case: “You would expect that after such an event, the Attorney General would take a step back—think about public trust. The Attorney General was in contact with Tomer-Yerushalmi regarding the leak investigation. Even the appearance of a conflict of interest is improper in itself.”

“The problem is that Baharav-Miara simply doesn’t care what people think of her. Doesn’t she realize she’s in a problematic situation?”

He added that the entire investigation was riddled with serious flaws: “This investigation was conducted in a crooked way, with almost no precedent. The Attorney General herself lifted the gag order before the evidence was even in the hands of the police.”

Regarding the fact that the police did not immediately question Tomer-Yerushalmi when the suspicions against her were publicized: “This whole episode is insane. For several days, she managed to meet twice with the IDF Chief of Staff, issue a public letter to the media about the case, and meet repeatedly with her lawyer—and meanwhile, different versions of the case were leaked. And the Attorney General still didn’t order an urgent interrogation.”

“It’s absurd that for so many days she wasn’t required to give a statement, and no one seized her phone to determine who knew what and when. The risk of obstruction was enormous—especially in a case where the entire issue is obstruction and cover-up.”

“This isn’t an investigative failure—it’s an investigative crime. Because it was all foreseeable. I’d say the Attorney General will have to give answers, but that’s a joke. Who can demand anything from her?”

“When you’re shielded from criticism on all sides—this is the result,” he concluded.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin instructed Baharav-Miara and her staff to recuse themselves from the case, but in a response sent by Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon, Baharav-Miara claimed that Levin’s directive constitutes improper interference in an ongoing investigation.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)