Netanyahu lied about leaked Gaza documents, lawyer for his aide says

Benjamin Netanyahu lied in the case of leaks of classified security documents to save himself, says the lawyer representing Eli Feldstein, spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s security office.

Feldstein stands accused in the case. He worked closely with Netanyahu over the last year. He was charged last month with transferring classified information with the intent to harm Israel’s security, as well as illicit possession of classified information and obstruction of justice.

Israeli media reported on Wednesday that Feldstein’s lawyer, Oded Savoray, accused the prime minister of “shirking responsibility for an event he caused,” as he had been aware of both the documents and the plan to leak them.

He said Feldstein chose not to remain silent and sacrifice himself for Netanyahu.

“There was a stage in the investigation where he decided to stop taking the fall for the Prime Minister and his office,” attorney Savoray told the Kan channel, referring to Feldstein’s assertion that Netanyahu knew about the document before it was published in the German tabloid Bild.

“(Feldstein) did not say that Netanyahu ordered the document to be released to foreign media, but that he knew about the document and the decision to release it to the media,” Palestine Chronicle quoted the lawyer as saying.

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Netanyahu

Feldstein is accused of unlawfully acquiring sensitive military information and leaking it to influence public opinion, aiming to reduce pressure on Netanyahu to make significant concessions in exchange for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

The documents in question are alleged to be the Hamas military strategy documents, found by Israeli military intelligence in Gaza and subsequently manipulated by suspects within or close to the prime minister’s office and defense establishment.

The documents are said to have been leaked to the German newspaper Bild and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle just as a potential ceasefire deal for Gaza— which ultimately failed— was being negotiated in September this year.

It is unclear how changes to these documents might have been made. But they are believed to have been altered to suggest that Hamas intended to smuggle Israeli captives held in Gaza to Egypt and then either Iran or Yemen.

Netanyahu later referred to the Bild article, asserting that it supported his hardline stance on negotiating a captive swap deal. Kan has reported that Feldstein said he notified the prime minister two days before he leaked the document to Bild.

But Netanyahu has claimed that he only learned about the existence of the classified document from the media. Netanyahu has not been charged in connection with the case, but his supporters argue that the prosecution’s actions are part of a politically motivated campaign against him.

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