Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority, part of the Justice Ministry, has ordered the Israel Police to conduct a comprehensive inquiry following the publication of videos and personal information about Mali and Liel Yahalomi, who were found in Argentina last August.
Authority head Adv. Gilad Semama contacted Police Commissioner Daniel Levy and the police’s internal privacy supervisor, Deputy Commissioner George Kevorkian, demanding an investigation into how footage and personal details about the two women reached the media, allegedly violating their privacy.
The inquiry follows a series of media reports published after Mali and Liel Yahalomi were located in Argentina on August 14, 2026.
According to the authority, the material included videos showing the women in vulnerable moments as they were found on a bus and questioned by a police representative.
In addition to the footage, personal information from the investigation was exposed, including private messages, searches the women conducted using artificial intelligence tools, details about their financial circumstances and financial transactions they had made.
Reports also disclosed information about their locations, movements and expected arrival time in Israel.
The Privacy Protection Authority said its review of the reports raised suspicions that at least some of the published information had originated with the Israel Police.
Semama instructed the police’s internal privacy supervisor to exercise his authority under the Privacy Protection Law and determine how the videos and personal details reached the media.
As part of the inquiry, police will be required to examine whether the disclosures violated internal procedures and what considerations, if any, were taken into account before the information was approved for publication.
The police must also formulate systemic conclusions and lessons regarding the transfer of information to the media in similar cases and submit the inquiry’s findings and lessons to the Privacy Protection Authority.
Semama stressed the distinction between reporting that missing women had been found and exposing their personal information.
“The importance of reporting that missing women have been found and are safe is clear to everyone. However, there is a serious problem with publishing videos of them in vulnerable moments and exposing their personal details, movements, locations and financial transactions after they have already been found," he said.
He added: “These publications, which apparently originated from the police investigation, allegedly caused substantial harm to their privacy, without legitimate justification and seemingly in violation of the police’s own procedures."
Semama concluded that the police must conduct a thorough inquiry into whether and how the information was leaked and draw the necessary lessons to ensure that citizens’ fundamental right to privacy is not violated in similar circumstances.