Arrests. Classified documents. And suspected leaks that may have harmed efforts to free hostages held by Hamas in order, critics say, to give Benjamin Netanyahu public cover for failing to agree to a cease-fire deal. The Israeli prime minister was engulfed in scandal Monday over a case involving one of his aides that has sent shockwaves across the country.
The firestorm — brought into public view when an Israeli court loosened a gag order Sunday night — has enraged Netanyahu’s political opponents and hostage families. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and distanced himself from the case, but critics have alleged that the Israeli leader put hostages’ lives and national security at risk to buttress his hardline position in stalled cease-fire talks by leaking Gaza documents to friendly media outlets.
The scandal has renewed focus on the issue after the U.S. ramped up efforts by dispatching officials to the Middle East to secure deals that would end the fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon even as the U.S. presidential election looms.
In a ruling on Sunday, the Rishon Le-Zion Magistrates’ Court said an investigation had been launched after suspicions arose within the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency, or the Shin Bet, that “classified and sensitive intelligence” had been illegally taken from IDF systems.
The action, the court said, may have not only caused “serious harm to state security and the endangerment of intelligence sources,” but also could have harmed “the goal of releasing the hostages” who were taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.
The court identified the central suspect in the case as Eliezer Feldstein, reported by Israeli media to have been one of Netanyahu’s media advisers.
In addition to Feldstein, three other people the court described as “detainees involved in the activities” were questioned, but they have yet to be publicly identified by the court.
Israeli media has reported that the information suspected of being leaked formed the basis of multiple articles on Hamas’ approach to the hostage situation, including an article published by the London-based Jewish Chronicle that was later withdrawn after widespread criticism. NBC News was not immediately able to independently confirm that reporting.
The Jewish Chronicle article had suggested that Hamas planned to move hostages out of Gaza through Egypt, while a separate article published by the German newspaper Bild reported that Hamas was drawing out negotiations for a cease-fire deal as a form of psychological warfare on Israel.
Both articles drew skepticism from Israeli observers given their timing and the apparent cover they gave Netanyahu as he was accused of deliberately sabotaging cease-fire negotiations.
The Jewish Chronicle and Bild did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The reports emerged as Netanyahu insisted on Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, a demand that became a major sticking point in cease-fire talks. The Israeli leader faced mounting outrage from hostage families and much of the country’s public over his failure to agree to a cease-fire deal.
While Israeli media had reported some details of the probe and the gag order had been partially lifted last week, it was not until Sunday that crucial and explosive allegations were revealed.
In a statement Saturday, Netanyahu’s office said the materials suspected of being leaked had never reached the prime minister’s office from the Military Intelligence Directorate and that Netanyahu had learned about the document in question from the media.
It added that the aide implicated in the suspected leaks had “never participated in security discussions, was not exposed or received classified information, and did not take part in secret visits.”
As Netanyahu’s office appeared to downplay the impact of the alleged leak, political opponents expressed outrage over the potential involvement of one of the prime minister’s aides.
In a statement posted to X on Sunday, Benny Gantz, who resigned from Netanyahu’s now-dissolved war Cabinet in June, said he had previously warned that “political considerations had infiltrated the most sacred realm of Israel’s security.”
“If sensitive security information was stolen and used as a tool in a political survival campaign, it’s not just a criminal offense; it’s a national crime,” he said.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid rejected claims from Netanyahu’s office that he had been previously unaware of the materials alleged to have been leaked.
“If Netanyahu didn’t know that his close aides were stealing documents, planting spies within the IDF, forging documents, exposing intelligence sources, and passing classified documents to the foreign press to stop the hostage deal—what *does* he know?” Lapid said in a post on X on Sunday.
Mairav Zonszein, Crisis Group’s senior analyst on Israel, said the possibility of classified data being used by Israeli officials to “shape media narratives” should be neither “surprising or new.”
“It’s part of why he is already on trial for corruption,” she said in a post on X on Monday about Netanyahu, who has been embroiled in an ongoing corruption trial involving allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust that he denies.
“The takeaway from the scandal is that Israel is acting criminally, not just regarding Palestinians/adversaries, but domestically,” Zonszein said.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of hostages held by Hamas, said it was unable to immediately provide a response to the information released by the Magistrates’ Court on Sunday. But the forum had previously joined calls from journalists for the gag order to be lifted on the case, saying hostage families had a “right to receive this information directly, rather than learning about it through media reports.”
