Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Children’s TV Star Questioned In Connection To Cocaine Ring

Beloved Israeli children’s television star Yuval Shem Tov, also known as “Yuval Hamebulbal” (Yuval the Befuddled), confessed to purchasing cocaine from a drug ring, the Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

Three people were arrested two weeks ago at an apartment in Tel Aviv as part of a police sting in connection to widespread distribution of cocaine throughout the country.

A brother and sister, along with another unnamed 28-year-old male, were questioned in connection to the narcotics sales, and a stash of cannabis and cocaine was seized along with cellphones suspected of being used by the drug traffickers, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

Police found a list of suspected clients on one of the phones, many of whom are recognizable to the Israeli public, including Shem Tov, 45, who lives in central Israel with his wife and six children. Also listed were actors, lawyers, a model and an American journalist.

According to Kan, the traffickers are suspected of running a courier service delivering high-quality cocaine to the VIP customers, who paid $560 per gram.

Dozens of deals were allegedly recorded, and some of the customers had a long history of repeat business.

It was further reported that dozens of suspected customers were questioned by police, including Shem Tov, who admitted to purchasing cocaine several times but insisted that it was for his own personal use only. However, a Channel 10 report claimed that he referred clients to the dealers in exchange for a discounted rate on his own drugs.

Contact Alyssa Fisher at [email protected] or on Twitter, @alyssalfisher

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.