Netanyahu accused of sabotaging hostage exchange

During hostage negotiations with Hamas, the Israeli prime minister's office reportedly leaked secret documents to the media. This affair led to arrests in the councilor's entourage.

Felix Wellisch, Jerusalem / ch media

The accusations are scandalous: secret documents were allegedly transmitted to the media from the office of Israeli head of government Benjamin Netanyahu. They were allegedly used to sabotage an agreement in hostage negotiations with Hamas.

One of the suspects was identified Sunday as Eliezer Feldstein, after an Israeli court partially lifted an information embargo in the case. The accused had been arrested two days earlier with three other suspects and was believed to have worked as a spokesperson in Netanyahu's office. On Monday, a fifth suspect was arrested.

Arrests and investigation

According to the court, the arrests were preceded by a joint investigation by the police, the secret services and the army. It is based on a “breach of national security through the illegal transmission of classified information”. This would have undermined the war objective of freeing the hundred or so hostages still held in Gaza.

Two documents are at the heart of the affair. In a text published by the British newspaper The Jewish Chronicle on September 5, it was reported, referring to a Hamas document, that the group's leader, Jahia Sinwar, killed in the meantime, had planned an escape across the Egyptian border to Iran, in the company of hostages Israelis.

A day later, the German tabloid Bild published an article referring to a Hamas strategic document, according to which Sinwar was not interested in a quick agreement with Israel and instead wanted to continue to exert psychological pressure on Israel through the hostages.

What does the army say?

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said, referring to the first report, that the army had no such information. The Israeli media spoke of a falsification. The Jewish Chronicle has since deleted the article and ended its collaboration with the author.

Regarding the article of Bildthe army had already announced after its publication that the cited document had been found around five months ago. However, it did not come from Sinwar or the Hamas leadership, but was written by lower-ranking members of the Palestinian organization.

The Prime Minister strikes back

What is clear, however, is that Netanyahu profited from these reports when they were published. They supported essential points with which he had justified a few days earlier, during a press conference, new demands from Israel in negotiations with Hamas. Among these points was the refusal to evacuate the corridor from Philadelphia to the Egyptian border, contrary to the recommendation of military and intelligence officials.

Critics now accuse Netanyahu's office of waging a disinformation campaign to prevent his government from collapsing. Its far-right members have repeatedly warned that they would leave the coalition in the event of a truce. Since the suspect was identified Sunday as Eliezer Feldstein, new details have come to light.

Who is Eliezer Feldstein?

According to Israeli media, Feldstein, 32, has worked in the past as an army spokesman for the occupied West Bank as well as for the party of Police Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a right-wing cleric. After the Hamas raid a year ago, he became a spokesperson for the prime minister's office. Due to the failure of a security check, however, Feldstein would not have been regularly employed.

According to the newspaper Haaretzit is not yet clear whether he was employed by Netanyahu's office or by his party, Likud. What we do know, however, is that he participated with Netanyahu in numerous meetings, even secret ones, and in visits to security-related installations. Several photos dating from last year bear witness to this.

However, it will not be possible in the short term to prove the involvement of the head of government, as requested by opposition leader Yaïr Lapid. In addition, Netanyahu's office has already gone on the attack: during the war, a lot of classified information was also passed on by other services. The investigation into the Feldstein case is “aggressive and biased.”

(Translated and adapted by Chiara Lecca)

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