IDF officer loses promotion after documents stolen from car

IDF Chief Gadi Eisenkot cancels the promotion of an IDF colonel, who had classified documents stolen from his car last month, the army says.

On January 19, Col. Zaki Yefet was suspended from his position as chief engineering officer of the Northern Command, after a thief broke into his car, stealing sensitive documents and an encrypted army cell phone.

Yefet is cleared to return to his current position. But after a conversation with Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, head of the Northern Command, Eisenkot decides to halt the planned appointment of Yefet to chief operations officer of the IDF Northern Corps, the army says.

Without this promotion, Yefet is now expected to retire from the military after he completes his tenure as chief engineering officer in February 2018.

The IDF Military Police’s investigation into the break-in and theft is ongoing, the army says.

— Judah Ari Gross