New Delhi:
A former spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been arrested for allegedly leaking confidential paperwork that will have harmed Gaza hostage negotiations.
Eliezer Feldstein was detained together with three different folks on Monday over the leak of “categorized and delicate intelligence info”. The Israeli court docket mentioned the discharge of the paperwork ran the danger of inflicting “extreme hurt to state safety”. “Consequently, the power of safety our bodies to attain the target of releasing the hostages, as a part of the battle objectives, might have been compromised,” it added.
Israel’s home safety company and the military launched an investigation into the breach in September after two newspapers, British weekly The Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s Bild tabloid, revealed articles based mostly on the categorized navy paperwork.
One claimed a doc had been uncovered displaying that then Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar — later killed by Israel — and the hostages in Gaza could be smuggled out of the territory into Egypt by way of the Philadelphi Hall alongside the Gaza-Egypt border. The opposite was based mostly on what was mentioned to be an inner memo from the Hamas management on Sinwar’s technique to hamper talks in the direction of the liberation of hostages.
The primary doc leaked turned out to be faux, and the interior memo was the truth is written by lower-level Hamas militants, Israeli media experiences mentioned.
Opposition leaders, in the meantime, questioned if Mr Netanyahu is complicit within the leak. Key opposition chief Yair Lapid informed journalists on Sunday the small print of “the intense safety affair in Netanyahu’s workplace ought to alarm each Israeli”. “This affair originated within the prime minister’s workplace, and the investigation wants to find out whether or not it was not below the prime minister’s orders,” Lapid added.
One other main opposition determine, Benny Gantz, mentioned, “This isn’t a case of suspected leaks however quite profiteering with state secrets and techniques for political functions.”
Mr Netanyahu denied the allegations, saying “the doc revealed by Bild had by no means arrived” at his workplace. With out mentioning Feldstein by identify, he mentioned the previous aide “had by no means taken half in safety conferences or consulted confidential paperwork”.