JERUSALEM: As the corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu resumed this week, Israel was gripped by another scandal involving the prime minister and the alleged leaking of classified documents.
Eli Feldstein, a former adviser to Netanyahu, is accused in the case of leaking a classified document related to hostage negotiations in Gaza to shift critical media coverage of the Israeli leader.
The case, critics say, highlights deep-seated corruption inside his office, including attempts to sway public opinion amid a divisive war.
It also casts a spotlight on disciplinary issues faced by the Israeli military during the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Feldstein, who was released to house arrest on Tuesday, allegedly received the classified information from a reservist noncommissioned officer who has not yet been named. In a combative press conference on Monday, Netanyahu said the charges against Feldstein were a part of a broader attack against him and his supporters.
“I do not intend to get involved in ongoing investigations, but I want to talk about this here as well,” Netanyahu said in response to a question from a journalist about the affair. He said he was shocked by the investigation and the methods used by law enforcement officials to extract information, adding the overarching goal was to get his former aides to give up sensitive information about him.
Both Feldstein, who served as an unofficial aide to Netanyahu, and the unnamed soldier, were indicted last month on charges of compromising state security.
Feldstein leaked a document to German newspaper Bild that detailed apparent Hamas tactics in the negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire.
The information in the document has since been dismissed by the army as not accurately reflecting Hamas’s upper leadership.
Feldstein and the unnamed soldier had been held in police custody for more than two months and the charges against them are serious enough to carry a life sentence. Prosecutors have alleged the adviser had political motives in leaking the document.
They allege he was in possession of the document from July, but only chose to leak it to the media in September, after the murder of six high-profile hostages by Hamas in late August, with the aim of alleviating public criticism of the prime minister.
Feldstein’s case has sparked a fierce response from Netanyahu and his allies.
Netanyahu and his supporters have decried Feldstein’s arrest and indictment as a political witch-hunt and an abuse of the legal system.
In a lengthy video clip released on Nov. 24, Netanyahu said the Feldstein case was “selective law enforcement” aimed at harming him and his right-wing camp.
Some of Netanyahu’s supporters accuse the defense establishment of seeking revenge against Netanyahu and his government, which has pointed a finger of blame at the military, the Shin Bet security agency and the Mossad spy agency as being responsible for the failures that enabled Hamas to attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — sparking the ongoing war in Gaza.
In a direct response to Feldstein’s indictment, ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have even advanced legislation that would allow soldiers — and other members of the defense establishment — to pass classified intelligence, even without authorization, to the prime minister or defense minister.
