Gag order placed on investigation of top PM aide’s alleged bid to scupper Bild probe
Court accepts police appeal to put sweeping ban on publishing material from investigation of late-night meeting between Braverman and Feldstein that could expose Shin Bet methods
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The Lod District Court on Friday placed a gag order on the investigation of an alleged meeting where, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former aide Eli Feldstein, the premier’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, said he could “turn off” a military probe into Feldstein’s leaking of classified material to German tabloid Bild.
The September 2024 leak sought to counter rising public anger at Netanyahu for his failure at the time to secure a hostage deal in Gaza.
The gag order, which is valid until February 22, covers all future investigative materials and any information that could expose methods or capabilities of the Shin Bet domestic security service. The sweeping gag order was issued after police appealed a lower court ruling that had granted a more limited order.
The gag order came after Braverman was interrogated for a second time Thursday night by investigators from the police’s National Fraud Investigations on suspicion of obstructing justice, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
He was first questioned earlier this month, reportedly for some 13 hours, after Feldstein said in an interview with Kan in December that, in a late-night meeting in the Defense Ministry’s parking lot, Braverman told him that the IDF had launched an investigation into the Bild leak.
Investigators are examining whether Braverman received the names of suspects while the leak investigation was still covert and allegedly passed that information to Feldstein, potentially warning him ahead of his arrest. Braverman is currently barred from communicating with Netanyahu or entering the Prime Minister’s Office.
Former IDF chief Herzi Halevi and, reportedly, current Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder have recently testified in the criminal investigation of the Bild leak. A senior military officer who had served in Halevi’s office was also reportedly questioned under caution on suspicion of involvement in the affair.
The Times of Israel Community.