Israeli military officer is fifth suspect arrested over leaked classified documents
An Israeli military officer working in the Prime Minister’s Office is one of five people arrested during an investigation into leaked classified documents.
Leader of the opposition and chairman of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid (R) and chairman of The National Unity Party Benny Gantz (L) at a joint press conference in Tel Aviv on Nov. 3, 2024, where they condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the leak of classified documents from his office. Photo by Yossi Zeliger/TPS-IL
The officer, identified as 32-year-old Eli Feldstein, worked in the Prime Minister’s Office as a military spokesperson and was among five suspects arrested on Friday. The names of the other suspects remain under a gag order.
The leaked documents in question were reportedly written by Hamas. They apparently were the basis for a report in the London-based Jewish Chronicle, which reported in September of a Hamas plan to smuggle Israeli hostages out of Gaza to the Sinai and to transfer them to Iran. The Chronicle later retracted the report and fired the journalist, saying the story had been fabricated.
The documents also apparently served as the basis for a report in Germany’s Bild daily, which suggested Hamas was deliberately drawing out hostage negotiations to create psychological pressure on the Israeli government.
According to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, the documents were not uncovered by Israeli forces in Gaza but rather by “another type of intelligence.” The case risks exposing Israel’s intelligence-gathering methods.
Feldstein is suspected of receiving the classified documents before they were reported in the Chronicle and Bild along with an interpretation that favored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was under public pressure at the time to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and hostage release.
Authorities are also investigating why Feldstein, who did not have appropriate security clearance, had access not only the documents, but to classified meetings as well.
At a joint press conference in Tel Aviv, opposition party leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz questioned whether the leak happened on Netanyahu’s orders.
“Netanyahu’s defense is that he has no influence or control over the system he heads. If that’s true, he’s ineligible. He is not qualified to lead the State of Israel in the most difficult war in its history,” Lapid said. “This case came out of the Prime Minister’s Office, and the investigation should check if it was not on the prime minister’s orders.”
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
