Yehalomi sisters' lawyer: No criminal suspicion, need privacy

Following the return to Israel of Mali and Liel Yahalomi, who have been at the center of widespread public and media attention in recent months, their attorney Shanit Ben Shoshan has issued her first public statement on their condition in an effort to end the wave of rumors and speculation surrounding the case.

"These are two women who went through a very difficult period, and at this stage the most important thing is to allow them to return to routine, to be with their families and to recover from what they experienced," the attorney said, according to a report Monday in Yisrael Hayom.

In her remarks, Ben Shoshon addressed the legal situation and clarified that as explicitly stated by police officials, no suspicion of criminal activity arose regarding their actions, and therefore there is no basis for continuing to establish facts on the ground or to attribute to them actions that were not committed based on unfounded publications.

At this stage, the defense team does not intend to provide additional personal or legal details beyond what has been published, out of an understanding that unnecessary exposure will only make their rehabilitation process more difficult.

The attorney's statement comes after the two landed at Ben Gurion Airport last week, covered in sun hats and wearing identical clothing. The two refused to speak with media outlets and rebuffed approaches from journalists. Ben Shoshan then turned to the journalists and said: "Listen, these people have been through so much, I've been getting messages since this morning as if they're enemies of the state. I'm asking you to let them go home. They're not enemies and they didn't steal and they didn't murder and they didn't do anything."

The attorney repeated her unequivocal call to media outlets and the public to respect the privacy of the young women and their family members who are accompanying them, in order to enable them to return to a normal and healthy life track as quickly as possible.

Privacy Protection Authority Opens Investigation

In recent days, the Privacy Protection Authority at the Ministry of Justice ordered the Israel Police to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into suspected violations of Mali and Liel's privacy, following the publication of footage and sensitive personal information concerning them in media outlets.

The head of the Privacy Protection Authority, Attorney Gilad Smama, approached the Inspector General of the Israel Police, Chief Superintendent Daniel Levy, and the Police's Internal Privacy Inspector, Chief Superintendent George Kevorkian. In his approach, the head of the Authority instructed the Police's Internal Privacy Inspector to exercise the supervisory powers granted to him under the Privacy Protection Law.

The approach was made following repeated publications in media outlets after the two were located in Argentina in August. Among other things, videos were published documenting them in a vulnerable state when they were located on a bus and during their questioning by a police representative, and sensitive personal details from the investigation of the incident were exposed. The exposed details included private correspondence, searches they conducted using artificial intelligence tools, information about their financial situation, financial transactions, their location and movements, and their expected landing date in Israel.