Computer with classified info stolen from IDF general’s home
Head of the army’s Manpower Directorate to be questioned after army laptop is taken from his house
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
A laptop containing classified information was stolen from the home of an IDF general in southern Israel on Tuesday, the army said.
Before dawn on Tuesday, the house of Maj. Gen. Hagai Topolanski, the head of the army’s Manpower Directorate, was broken into and a number of items were stolen, including the army computer, the IDF spokesperson said.
Police were called to Topolanski’s house in nearby Be’er Tuvia, in southern Israel.
Details of the case were kept under a gag order until Wednesday.
Military police have opened an investigation into the robbery, and Topolanski was slated to be questioned Wednesday.
To prevent leaks of classified information, the army has a harsh policy toward officers who allow military computers to be stolen on their watch.
Last year, IDF colonel Ilan Levy was summarily dismissed from his position after classified documents were stolen from his car, where he’d accidentally left them.
The stolen documents were smuggled into the West Bank, where they were later recovered by the Shin Bet.
In October, a lieutenant colonel in the air force was suspended for two weeks after an army computer was stolen from his house.
And earlier this year, the head of Israel’s missile defense program, Yair Ramati, was dismissed from his post amid allegations that he too had improperly maintained state secrets.
