Four Israelis have been arrested in connection with the theft of classified intelligence information from the Israel Defense Forces which was subsequently leaked to foreign media outlets in what appears to be an attempt to mislead public opinion against a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.
Such a deal is opposed by far-right members of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition and could potentially threaten the stability of his government.
A court on Sunday permitted publication of the name of the primary suspect, Eli Feldstein, a spokesman in Mr Netanyahu’s circle, although not formally employed by the prime minister’s office because he lacked the required security clearance. Three other suspects, defence establishment employees, were also in custody on Monday.
Mr Feldstein is part of Mr Netanyahu’s inner circle of advisers, attending classified meetings and frequently accompanying him to security facilities and participating in sensitive discussions.
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The investigation was launched after suspicion that classified and sensitive information was removed from the IDF that was liable to severely damage state security and harm the security services’ ability to secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza by Hamas – an offence that carries a maximum 15-year prison term.
One of the leaked documents, captured in Gaza, was written by a mid-level Hamas operative and addressed the group’s strategy in ceasefire negotiations. It formed the basis of a widely discredited article in the UK’s Jewish Chronicle suggesting Hamas had planned to spirit hostages out of Gaza via the Philidelphi corridor border with Egypt, and an article in Germany’s Bild newspaper claiming Hamas was drawing out hostage talks as a form of psychological warfare against Israel, shifting the blame for the failure to reach a deal away from Israel.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the affair should horrify every Israeli.
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“Netanyahu says that he did not know what his bureau was doing at a time that Israel is at a war for its existence,” he said. “Netanyahu’s line of defence is that he has no influence or control over the system that he heads. If that is true, he is unfit to lead the state of Israel in the most difficult war in its history.”
Opposition National Unity party head Benny Gantz said this was not a matter of a suspected leak, but of profiteering from state secrets for political needs.
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“If sensitive security information was stolen and became a tool in a campaign of political survival, this is not just a criminal offence, this is a national crime,” he said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said: “The suspicions indicate that people associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the biggest deceptions of [the public’s] consciousness in Israel’s history.”
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