Gag order may be lifted as probe widens into PM adviser’s alleged intel leak

Some of the suspects in the ongoing investigation into the alleged leak of classified documents from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office could face up to 15 years in prison, the Ynet news site reported on Saturday, citing an official familiar with the details, as a court was set to rule Sunday on whether a partial gag order on the scandal can be lifted.

Investigators are examining four separate issues in the case, according to the report: the leaking of top-secret documents; allowing an adviser without security clearance to access meetings and offices that should have been off-limits to him; negligence in the handling of classified documents; and using the documents to influence public opinion about a hostage deal.

The Shin Bet, Israel Police and Israel Defense Forces are conducting a joint investigation into a suspected “breach of national security caused by the unlawful provision of classified information,” a judge announced on Friday.

One of the four suspects, who was arrested at 4 a.m. on October 27, was a spokesman in the Prime Minister’s Office. The PMO denied on Friday that anyone on Netanyahu’s staff had been arrested, but many analysts noted that the premier has aides who work in his inner circle but are not formally employed by his office.

The spokesman has been prohibited from meeting his lawyer for several days, the Walla news site reported. Suspects under interrogation can be blocked from meeting a specific lawyer for a short period if a judge determines that there is a risk of information being passed to other suspects or external actors.

On Saturday, the PMO did not deny allegations that a document in question was leaked from Netanyahu’s office, but sought to distance the premier himself from the episode.

“The published document never reached the Prime Minister’s Office from the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, and the prime minister learned about it from the media,” claimed the PMO.

On September 6, Germany’s Bild outlet published a report that cited a document indicating that Hamas’s main concern in ceasefire negotiations with Israel was to rehabilitate its military capabilities, and not to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population. The spring 2024 document, which Bild said it had obtained exclusively, without offering further details, was reportedly found on a computer in Gaza that belonged to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

In its Saturday statement, the PMO also claimed that the spokesman in question “never participated in security discussions, was not exposed to or receive classified information, and did not take part in secret visits.”

However, the Kan public broadcaster reported Saturday that the suspect had been in Netanyahu’s office last week and was working next to his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman.

The PMO called it “ridiculous” to allege that a sympathetic article in Bild “caused any damage to the negotiations for the release of the hostages, or to the security of Israel,” as investigators claim.

“On the contrary – the document only helped the effort to return the hostages, and certainly did not harm it,” said the PMO. “The document and the article exposed the Hamas methods of exerting psychological pressure from home and abroad on the Israeli government and public by blaming Israel for the failure of the talks to release the hostages. This at a time when everyone knows – as has been repeatedly confirmed by senior American officials – that Hamas is the one preventing the execution of the deal.”

A source talking to Ynet blasted the handling of classified documents in Netanyahu’s office.

“Documents taken out of the vaults of the military secretary containing Israel’s most hidden secrets are circulating unchecked in countless places,” said the source. “Someone there made a mockery of the state’s security, it’s amazing how they treat  with disdain the most important security issues for all of us.”

The source called the case “very serious,” pointing out that beyond the concern about disclosing methods of intelligence collection used by Israel, there are allegations about the politicized use of intelligence to influence domestic opinion about the war.

Because of the prodigious leaks from the government, Israel’s security services have at times stopped sending classified documents electronically, Kan reported, adding that they are now sending the material in hard-copy form through messengers.

On Friday, Judge Menachem Mizrahi of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court announced the arrests, and said that authorities suspect that the leak harmed the achievement of Israel’s war aims, as he partially lifted a gag order regarding the incident.

According to Channel 12 news, the war aim in question was related to a potential hostage deal, with its report saying that suspects in the case selectively leaked and twisted Hamas documents obtained by the IDF regarding the terror group’s strategy in the hostage talks.

The alleged leaks led to a pair of reports some two months ago in Bild and the British outlet The Jewish Chronicle regarding Hamas’s strategy that were nearly identical to talking points made by Netanyahu in interviews, statements at cabinet meetings and press conferences shortly before and after, including a claim that Hamas had sought to smuggle Israeli hostages out of Gaza through the Philadelphi Corridor which separates the Strip from Egypt.

Launching a probe into the document leaked to Bild in an article published on September 6, the IDF said at the time that the document was found in Gaza some five months ago, and was not written by Sinwar himself, but that it was a recommendation paper drawn up by a mid-level Hamas officer.

Regarding the September 5 Jewish Chronicle article “Sinwar’s secret plan to ‘smuggle hostages to Iran'” — which alleged that a document had been uncovered in the Gaza Strip proving that Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself and some of the hostages out of Gaza and from there to Iran — the IDF said it was unaware of any such document actually existing. The Jewish Chronicle announced in mid-September that it had fired the writer who penned this and other articles for it, amid doubts about their veracity, and had removed his articles from its website.

The partial lifting of the gag order on Friday and reporting of new details came a day after several Israeli media outlets filed requests that the military censor approve for publication the details of the incident. Netanyahu, in a statement, also called for details of the saga to be made public, though his office didn’t file a formal request to that effect.

A court hearing on petitions against the gag order was scheduled for Sunday.

‘Thrown under the bus’

A source close to the spokesman under arrest told Channel 12 that the individual was “thrown under the bus” by the premier.

“He worked for Netanyahu and was an adviser to him over the past year and a half. He has dedicated his life to the prime minister and would endanger himself for him. The moment [the scandal] erupted, Netanyahu threw him under the bus and even lies by saying he doesn’t work for him,” the source said.

“He not only worked for Bibi, he was at the [PM’s] office every day, sat with him in the ‘aquarium’ [at the PMO], accompanied him on every visit, sat in all the consultations, traveled with the prime minister in his convoy,” the source said. “It’s unbelievable that a confidant is thrown to the wolves in an instant. Netanyahu would call him personally every day, send him on missions, and consult with him.”

Multiple media outlets aired a number of blurred images of the suspect, including one showing him in a room with Netanyahu and a number of other ministers, ostensibly disproving the premier’s claim that he did not work with him.

בצילום של לשכת העיתונות הממשלתית: אדם שנטען שאינו עובד בלשכת ראש הממשלה יורד ממסוק עם ראש הממשלה ואנשי לשכתו https://t.co/4WdBM7gkiJ pic.twitter.com/xYubaLGsSP

— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) November 1, 2024

Kan reported that the spokesman had continued to work for the premier in an unofficial capacity and that Netanyahu had been trying in recent months to hire him as an external adviser, which would allow him to be paid for his services.

In his capacity as an acting spokesman, Kan reported that the individual had regularly participated in consultations with Braverman, as well as the premier’s spokespeople and advisers.

It added that he would also visit Netanyahu’s office at the Kirya military headquarters.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.