Orna Zamir, wife of IDF chief of general staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, is an independent director at Tomer Food Combination (TASE: TOFD) at a time when the IDF is one of the company’s biggest customers. Earlier this month, Tomer Food Combination reported apparent problems in the accounting treatment of its stocks, and trading in its share was subsequently halted. The IDF says that the report amounts to manipulation, and that the chief of staff has never had anything to do with any aspect of Tomer Food.
Defense establishment sources say that in fact there are no private contracts between Tomer Food and the IDF or the Ministry of Defense, from Eyal Zamir’s period as chief of staff or during his previous post as director general of the Ministry of Defense. "All the contracts during his time in these posts followed from a lawful win in a tender. All these tenders are quite simple, in that the lowest bid wins. The appointment of Orna Zamir took place three months ago," the sources explained. "The appointment of the wife of the chief of staff at the company has already been recorded in the updated conflict of interests agreement which will be signed in due course as planned." (The agreement is updated from time to time).
Orna Zamir (57) was appointed to her post as a director of the company on May 19 this year. She holds a first degree in political science from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from Université Paris Cité. For the past three years she has been a business and strategy developer at OZ Consulting. She has also served as business development manager at Alin Beit Noam, an NGO for people with disabilities, and was deputy director general of Hod Hasharon Municipality for five years and a director of Maya, the water corporation of Hod Hasharon, for four years.
Before trading was halted in the company’s shares, Tomer Food had a market cap of NIS 138 million. The company’s chairperson and CEO is David Kimlov, who holds 61% of the company. The company stated in response to the report: "Tomer Food rejects any attempt to create a connection between the appointment of Orna Zamir to its board of directors and the company’s business activity with third parties, including the Ministry of Defense, which began long before Mrs. Zamir was appointed to the board as an independent director. All the company’s dealings with institutional and government customers are conducted in accordance with the procedures and rules that apply to contracts of this type, as they applied even before the appointment of Mrs. Zamir to the company’s board."
The IDF Spokesperson stated in response: "This is a case of unacceptable and groundless manipulation. The chief of staff does not deal and has not dealt with any aspect of the company mentioned, and has never made any decision concerning it, not during his period as chief of staff and not when he was director general of the Ministry of Defense. The appointment of the wife of the chief of staff to the position at the company was declared in accordance with procedure, in order to avoid any obstacle, even if only as a matter of appearances, of a conflict of interests. Any claim to the contrary belies the reality."
Trading in the share halted
This is the second affair to concern Tomer Food recently. The previous episode, after which trading in the company’s share was halted from August 24, began after the company’s new CFO Avital Perelstein-Cherny resigned even before she took up the post. She was due to do so in September, but a week after the appointment was announced the company stated that it would not go ahead. Two days after the appointment was cancelled, Tomer Food announced that the reason for the cancelation was "The accounting treatment of stocks of Tomer Importing and Marketing of Food Products in previous years." On Sunday this week, the company announced that its board of directors had authorized a committee to examine the issue of the treatment of stocks with the company’s professional advisers.
Following the surprise announcement by the CFO designate, Tomer Food Combination began "an immediate examination of the treatment of stocks", and whether and by how much it had impacted its financial statements for 2025 released in April, in the framework of approval of the merger whereby it became a listed company on the Tel Aviv Stock exchange. Tomer Importing and Marketing of Food Products joined the stock exchange three months ago as Tomer Food Combination when it completed a merger with stock market shell company Cipia Vision, a move led by investment banking firm Mor Langerman.
Tomer Food Combination has a market cap of NIS 138 million and is controlled by David Kimlov. Since 1979, it has imported and marketed food products, with a line of more than 1,600 products. The company has 73 employees, and a 30,000 square-meter logistics center at the Bar Lev Industrial Park in northern Israel.
According to the financial statements now under review, in 2025 the company recorded revenue of NIS 244 million, 20% more than in the previous year. It posted a net profit of NIS 3.1 million, 42% higher than in the previous year.
As for stocks, according to the financial statements they amounted to NIS 61.8 million, 8% less than at the end of the previous year. Kimlov’s compensation cost is stated at NIS 2.8 million, which includes a bonus of NIS 1 million for meeting profit targets. His monthly salary is NIS 118,000, and he is entitled to a bonus of 5% of the company’s annual operating profit. He is also entitled to 30 days vacation a year, repayment of expenses, subscriptions to a daily newspaper and to a business newspaper, a company car and mobile telephone, and Internet at his home.
Kimlov’s son Tomer is employed at the company as VP for regulation and imports, and his wife Ella is the company’s advertising and media manager.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 31, 2026.
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