As the corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu resumed this week, Israel was gripped by one other scandal involving the prime minister and the alleged leaking of categorised paperwork.
Eli Feldstein, a former adviser to Netanyahu, is accused within the case of leaking a categorised doc associated to hostage negotiations in Gaza to shift crucial media protection of the Israeli chief.
The case, critics say, highlights deep-seated corruption inside his workplace, together with makes an attempt to sway public opinion amid a divisive warfare.
It additionally casts a highlight on disciplinary points confronted by the Israeli navy throughout the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Feldstein, who was launched to deal with arrest on Tuesday, allegedly acquired the categorised data from a reservist noncommissioned officer who has not but been named.
In a combative press convention on Monday, Netanyahu mentioned the fees towards Feldstein had been part of a broader assault towards him and his supporters.
“I do not intend to get involved in ongoing investigations, but I want to talk about this here as well,” Netanyahu mentioned in response to a query from a journalist concerning the affair.
He mentioned he was shocked by the investigation and the strategies utilized by regulation enforcement officers to extract data, including the overarching purpose was to get his former aides to surrender delicate details about him.
– Life sentence –
Both Feldstein, who served as an unofficial aide to Netanyahu, and the unnamed soldier, had been indicted final month on prices of compromising state safety.
Feldstein leaked a doc to German newspaper Bild that detailed obvious Hamas ways within the negotiations for a hostage launch and ceasefire.
The data within the doc has since been dismissed by the military as not precisely reflecting Hamas’s higher management.
Feldstein and the unnamed soldier had been held in police custody for greater than two months and the fees towards them are severe sufficient to hold a life sentence.
Prosecutors have alleged the adviser had political motives in leaking the doc.
They allege he was in possession of the doc from July, however solely selected to leak it to the media in September, after the homicide of six high-profile hostages by Hamas in late August, with the intention of assuaging public criticism of the prime minister.
Feldstein’s case has sparked a fierce response from Netanyahu and his allies.
Netanyahu and his supporters have decried Feldstein’s arrest and indictment as a political witch-hunt and an abuse of the authorized system.
In a prolonged video clip launched on November 24, Netanyahu mentioned the Feldstein case was “selective law enforcement” aimed toward harming him and his right-wing camp.
Some of Netanyahu’s supporters accuse the defence institution of looking for revenge towards Netanyahu and his authorities, which has pointed a finger of blame on the navy, the Shin Bet safety company and the Mossad spy company as being accountable for the failures that enabled Hamas to assault Israel on October 7, 2023 — sparking the continuing warfare in Gaza.
In a direct response to Feldstein’s indictment, ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have even superior laws that will enable troopers — and different members of the defence institution — to cross categorised intelligence, even with out authorisation, to the prime minister or defence minister.
– ‘Manipulates public opinion’ –
Barak Medina, a professor of regulation on the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, mentioned the case had drawn consideration due to Netanyahu’s involvement, though the prime minister himself will not be indicted.
“Feldstein’s lawyer has argued that Netanyahu approved giving this document to Bild and while it is common for politicians to leak information to the press, what was done here was directly related to a possible hostage deal,” he instructed AFP.
Medina mentioned it factors to the chance that “Netanyahu manipulates public opinion”.
“The other aspect has to do with concern over a lack of discipline in the (military)”, the professor mentioned.
Medina pointed to worldwide accusations that Israeli troopers could have dedicated warfare crimes in Gaza and to fears the navy was being politicised.
“There is a concern that there are people within the army who are closely coordinated with senior politicians from the radical right-wing, some who are part of the government, and that creates a tension of whether those people are taking orders from the Chief of Staff or from politicians,” Medina mentioned.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu testified in court docket for the primary time after being accused of corruption, which he dismissed as “ridiculous”.
He turned Israel’s first sitting premier to face felony trial, during which he faces prices of bribery, fraud and breach of public belief.
Source: www.anews.com.tr