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Key Suspect Claims Netanyahu Knew About Illegally Obtained Document – ​​Israel News

by November 12, 2024

Contrary to denials from the prime minister’s office, the classified information was handed over to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal leaks to foreign media, a lawyer for one of the suspects in the case revealed in an interview on Army Radio on Tuesday morning.

It is still unclear whether the prime minister’s media team adviser, Eliezer Feldstein, who is suspected of leaking the documents, did so on his own initiative or on the prime minister’s orders.

However, if the new information is correct, it brings the case one step closer to the Prime Minister himself. It contradicts a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on November 2, shortly after the investigation became public, that “the published document has not been received from the Prime Minister’s Office.” [IDF] The Intelligence Directorate and the Prime Minister learned about it from the media.”

Information passed on to the Prime Minister

The lawyer, Adv. Michael Fetman, represents a suspect whose identity is classified, a sergeant in the reserves of an intelligence unit. According to Fetman, Feldstein told his client that he had passed the information on to the prime minister and that “the prime minister wants more.” [information] and took a whole day to treat the problem.”

Fetman added that his client had no prior acquaintance with Feldstein, but obtained Feldstein’s number after inquiring about a way to pass information directly to the Prime Minister’s Office. His motive, according to Fetman, was to provide the prime minister with information he believed was crucial to leading to a hostage deal.

Eliezer Feldstein, the main suspect in the PMO security leak affair. (Source: IDF Spokesperson Unit, Via Maariv)

The reservist wanted to avoid a scenario similar to that of the much-quoted Corporal “V,” whose warning about the impending threat of a Hamas attack before Oct. 7 was not taken seriously and therefore did not appear higher up the chain of commanders, Fetman added .

Other previously unknown details that emerged during the interview included that Tuesday was the suspect’s 18th day in jail, meaning he was arrested on Saturday, October 26; that he had been prevented from meeting his lawyer for the first ten days; that he was married with a two-year-old child and that, like Feldstein, he was raised in an ultra-Orthodox family; and that there had been no confrontation between him and Feldstein since the arrests, suggesting that their versions of events were not contradictory.

The leaked information is classified but is widely believed to be related to a document leaked to German newspaper Bild in early September. It says, among other things, that Hamas intentionally sowed internal division in Israel over the hostage issue and did not intend to conclude a deal.

The report came as public pressure against the prime minister and in favor of a deal that came to a head after the bodies of six hostages were found in southern Gaza after they had been executed just days earlier.

Feldstein is reportedly being investigated not only for illegally obtaining and distributing the documents, but also for manipulating the document before distributing it.

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The Shin Bet is conducting an investigation into the leaked information. A further investigation is currently underway under the leadership of the Israel Police Unit Lahav 433. Reports indicate allegations that members of the prime minister’s office manipulated official minutes of meetings and telephone conversations in the hours before and after the Hamas attack with the aim of minimizing the prime minister’s involvement and thereby minimizing his direct responsibility.

Response from the Prime Minister’s Office

The Prime Minister’s Office responded: “It hurts us deeply that young people’s lives are being destroyed with the useless claims of harming the right-wing government.”

“In a democratic country, people are not arrested and held in dungeons for 20 days because of a leak – while being prevented from meeting with a lawyer for many days – just to get them to give false statements against the Prime Minister.”

“This abuse is all the more outrageous given that there was not a single investigation into the spate of criminal leaks from the cabinet and negotiating team throughout the war year.”

“These criminal leaks passed information to Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas and caused great damage to Israel’s security and efforts to free the hostages.”



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