Netanyahu aid to be indicted in hostage document leak

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and another suspect will be indicted for allegedly leaking top-secret documents to convince Israel that the hostage protests were strengthening Hamas, according to newly revealed information cleared for publication Sunday.

The spokesperson, Eliezer Feldstein, allegedly first leaked the information to Israeli media outlets, who were barred from publishing it by the IDF censor due to potentially severe security damage that could occur as a result.

Israel’s State Attorney’s Office announced on Sunday that it will file charges against Feldstein and one other suspect.

The state attorney’s office also requested a five-day extension to the suspects’ confinement, during which it intends to file an indictment, and that they remain jailed until the end of the legal proceedings due to the case’s breadth and sensitivity.

Feldstein was arrested on November 2 along with four other suspects, all of whom are security personnel whose names are still under gag order. While some of the other suspects have been released to house arrest, Feldstein has remained in prison.

Another member of Netanyahu’s media team, Yonatan Urich, was interrogated on Thursday as well.

What did the document say?

The story adds fuel to the claims by Netanyahu’s opponents that he has not been interested in making a deal. It also comes as negotiations to release the remaining 101 captives in Gaza have hit a dead end. The pending leadership in Washington has made it harder for Biden administration officials to pursue a deal.

The court document with the new information, quoted here in full, was released following an appeal by a number of Israeli news organizations to lift the gag order.

“On September 6, 2024, foreign media published an article about Hamas’s positions regarding negotiations for the release of hostages. This article included the use of classified materials and documents that were illegally taken from IDF intelligence systems,” the court document read.

While the foreign media in question is not mentioned by name, it is almost certainly referring to a report in the German tabloid newspaper Bild, which published an article that fits the description above on that exact date.

“After examination by the IDF, it was determined that this was a leak of a ‘Top Secret’ and sensitive document, whose exposure could harm both the achievement of one of the war’s objectives (hostage release) and the operational activities of the IDF and Shin Bet in the Gaza Strip against Hamas and in additional contexts.

“Given the above, a preliminary investigation began in the IDF Information Security System (MAHBAM) to trace the source of the leak. After several examinations conducted by the IDF, it was determined that there were grounds to open an investigation into the leak by the Shin Bet. Accordingly, upon receiving the IDF chief of staff’s request on the matter, a covert Shin Bet investigation began to locate those responsible for the leak.

“The investigation was conducted in conjunction with the Israel Police and began with an attempt to locate the leak’s source from within the IDF only, working from a list of IDF personnel who had been exposed to the classified document. After locating the source of the leak within the IDF, additional intelligence was gathered, which raised suspicions about a series of other parties involved in the leak, and accordingly, the overt phase of the investigation began.

“During the overt investigation, several individuals were arrested (in stages and according to developments): a reserve NCO, two reserve officers, an active-duty NCO, and Eliezer Feldstein, a civilian communications adviser employed in the National Public Diplomacy Directorate under the Prime Minister’s Office. Additional suspects were questioned without arrest.”

Feldstein was allegedly employed under the National Public Diplomacy Directorate and not directly under the prime minister because he failed a vetting process by the Shin Bet (National Security Agency). In reality, according to some reporters, he answered directly to the prime minister.

“The investigation revealed a serious chain mechanism for leaks, beginning with a reserve NCO who decided on his own initiative to remove a top secret and sensitive document from IDF possession illegally, intending to transfer it to the political echelon.

“In April 2024, the reserve NCO transferred a copy of the classified document to Eliezer Feldstein through social media. Additionally, as will be detailed later, in September 2024 and after the news was published in the media, the NCO transferred to Eliezer’s possession a physical copy of the original document, along with two additional ‘Top Secret’ classified documents, which were also physically transferred to Eliezer. The information was effectively moved from IDF possession to an unauthorized person who was not entitled to possess it.

“As revealed in the investigation, in early September 2024, Eliezer Feldstein decided to distribute the said document to media outlets in Israel for the purpose of publishing its contents, with the aim of influencing public opinion in Israel regarding the ongoing hostage negotiations, particularly concerning the impact of protests on strengthening Hamas.

“This occurred close to the date of August 31, 2024 – the murder of six hostages in the Gaza Strip, and following numerous protests against the government on the issue, as part of an effort to change public discourse and point an accusing finger at Yahya Sinwar.

“To this end, Eliezer approached several media outlets in Israel, but after a journalist’s inquiry to the censor on the matter, the censor prohibited its publication due to its content and sensitive source. At this point, Eliezer Feldstein decided to bypass censorship and publish the document in foreign media. For this purpose, Eliezer enlisted another party to help publish the story in a foreign media outlet.

Meanwhile, Eliezer Feldstein updated several media outlets in Israel about the article expected to be published abroad and asked them to do a ‘follow-up’ immediately after its publication.

“After the article’s publication, questions arose among Israeli media outlets regarding the authenticity of the document on which the foreign article was based. Then, to prove that it was an authentic document, Eliezer Feldstein approached the reserve NCO again and requested to receive the original document. The reserve NCO met with Eliezer Feldstein and handed over a physical copy of the original document as well as two additional ‘Top Secret’ documents.

“According to the suspicions, this is a highly classified and sensitive leak, whose publication poses the potential for severe security damage to the defense system and the State of Israel.

“In summary of this case so far, an investigation conducted in full cooperation between the IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Police effectively thwarted the leak channel and prevented further damage to state security,” the court document concluded.

A lawyer for one of the suspects in the case revealed in an interview on Army Radio on Tuesday morning that Netanyahu was handed the classified information at the heart of the investigation and even requested to receive more. This contradicted a statement by the prime minister’s office on November 2, soon after the investigation became public, that “the document that was published did not arrive at the prime minister’s office from the [IDF] Intelligence Directorate, and the prime minister learned about it from the media.”