One of Benjamin Netanyahu’s top aides has been arrested for allegedly leaking classified information to the foreign press.
Opponents of the Israeli PM claim the intelligence was “faked” and that it was leaked in an attempt to scupper a possible Gaza ceasefire and a hostage deal.
The alleged leaks – to the mass circulation German newspaper Bild, and to the Jewish Chronicle in this country – were published in September as ceasefire and hostage release negotiations were ongoing, but appear to back the narrative given by Netanyahu at the same time.
Magistrate Court Judge Menahem Mizrahi partially lifted a gag order on details of the security breach on Sunday.
“Classified and sensitive intelligence information was taken from IDF (Israel Defence Forces) systems and taken out illegally,” the ruling by the Rishon Le-Zion Magistrates’ Court said, which may have caused “serious damage to the state’s security and posed a risk to information sources”.
A handout photo that the Prime Minister’s Office says shows Benjamin Netanyahu approving an airstrike on Beirut targeting Hezbollah’s main headquarters, September 27, 2024. (Prime Minister’s Office)
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Eliezer Feldstein has been named by Israeli opposition politicians as an aide to Netanyahu, and one four suspects, including three of them members of the security establishment.
None of the four could not be reached for comment.
It is also alleged that the leaked info was taken from Israel’s military data and that it may have been “illegally issued” to harm attempts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu denied the leaking of classified info, and in relation to claims against aagainst Feldstein said the “person in question never participated in security-related discussions.”
Bild had published a report at the time which appeared to back claims made by the Israeli PM in a news conference on September 2, where he showed an alleged Hamas document which was said to have been found in a tunnel in Gaza.
The document, he said, showed that Hamas was attempting to create division in Israel “I am not going to surrender to this pressure,” said Netanyahu.
Bild’s report included a Hamas document it claimed was written by Yahya Sinwar showing how the group was drawing out the war and was trying to create divisions within Israel and build pressure on the families of the hostages’ families so they in turn could pressure the government.
But in a statement on September 8, the IDF said it was not written by Sinwar and that it was an old document found five months ago and “written as a recommendation by middle ranks in Hamas and not by Sinwar.”
The information did not “constitute new information,” added the IDF, who confirmed the possible leak of the document was a “serious offence.”
Asked about the investigation, Bild said that it does not comment on its sources.
“The authenticity of the document known to us was confirmed by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) immediately after publication,” it added.
The JC meanwhile published an article claiming that intelligence sources said “Sinwar’s plan was to smuggle himself and the remaining Hamas leaders along with Israeli hostages through the Philadelphi corridor to Sinai and from there to Iran.”
The front-page article in its print edition claimed it was sourced “during the interrogation of a captured senior Hamas official, as well as by information obtained from documents seized on Thursday, August 29, the day the six bodies of the murdered hostages were retrieved.”
Yair Netanyahu, the PM’s son, also shared the article on his own social media platform.
But on September 10, Israeli military’s spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari cast doubt on the validity of the report.
He said: “I don’t know the kind of information you mentioned regarding Sinwar and the hostages in Philadelphi.”
In an article on its website the JC said this week:”The JC apologised for the article, removed all stories written by Elon Perry, who had exaggerated aspects of his CV, and severed ties with the freelance journalist.”
After a gagging order was lifted by the Israeli courts on Sunday the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza reacted angrily to the disclosures adding “suspicions indicate that people associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the biggest deceptions in the history of the country.”
The timing of the leaks came as anger and frustration was growing in Israel over the Netanyahu government’s failure to reach a deal to free hostages.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt were mediating ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas at the same time, including a deal to release hostages held in Gaza.
But talks broke down with both sides blaming each other.
Thousands of Israelis were taking to the streets demanding a deal to bring the hostages home.Anger grew after September 1 after it emerged that six hostages had been killed by Hamas in Gaza, with four of them apparently on a list of those who could have been freed if a deal was concluded.
Both Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz – who quit Israel’s war cabinet earlier this year – have called the alleged leak scandal a “national crime.”
In a statement Lapid said:”It is suspected that Netanyahu’s team published secret documents and faked secret documents to torpedo the possibility of a hostage deal.
“This affair came out of the Prime Minister’s own office, and the investigation must examine if it wasn’t at the Prime Minister’s orders.”
The Hostage Families Forum, which participated in Sunday’s hearing, said in a statement following the court ruling: “The attack against the hostages and their families has an address, a sender, and motives that constitute a real threat to national security and to the war objectives.
“The foundation of evidence, which has allegedly accumulated in this serious case currently being investigated by the Shin Bet, indicates that the prime minister’s inner circle acted in a way that harms national security with the aim of thwarting the return of the hostages.
“The Israeli government and its leader have a moral, ethical, and leadership obligation to return all hostages – the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and fallen for proper burial in their homeland.
“The suspicions indicate that people associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the greatest public deceptions in the state’s history. A government that abandoned citizens who became victims of cruel kidnappings is effectively working to defame them and harm public opinion regarding the duty to return them – as if they were the nation’s enemy.
“How terrible that the directing hand behind the incitement, violence, and blood-letting against the hostages and their families has allegedly been found.
“There is a serious causal connection between the defamatory and malicious campaign against the effort to return the hostages, and the thwarting of Netanyahu’s deal by the one who initiated it himself.
“The Hostage Families Forum demands investigation of all those involved in the alleged subversion and harm to national security.
“Such action in general, and during wartime in particular, endangers the hostages, harms the chances of their return, and God forbid legitimizes their blood and leads to harm against them by Hamas terrorists.”