IDF spokesman draws sharp rebuke for criticizing bill that could protect intel leakers
Army chief reprimands Hagari, defense minister says he will face disciplinary action, some legislators demand he be fired for warning that legislation endangers national security
Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari drew widespread backlash on Wednesday when he criticized a law being advanced by the government that would shield members of the defense establishment from prosecution should they give classified intelligence to the prime minister or defense minister without authorization.
During a press briefing, Hagari said the bill would be “very dangerous for the IDF and national security” should it become law.
Hagari’s remarks were met with resounding criticism from government officials and the IDF alike, given that military officials are not supposed to wade into politics. The spokesman, who has become a mainstay on Israeli screens since the outbreak of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, was rebuked by the head of the military, while a number of ministers called to fire him over the comments.
He subsequently walked back his comments, acknowledging he should not have made them.
The bill passed a preliminary reading on Wednesday 59-52, allowing it to move forward to a committee that will prepare it for the first of three subsequent votes necessary for it to become law. It was put forward in response to charges against two individuals, one of them an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and another an army reservist, accused of leaking classified intelligence to foreign media.
In the wake of the pair’s arrest, Netanyahu alleged that vital classified documents weren’t reaching him, which he said is why the suspects bypassed the proper channels and sent them from the IDF to the Prime Minister’s Office. (He has not addressed why his aide, Eli Feldstein would then leak it to the media in breach of military censorship and why Feldstein did not, by Netanyahu’s own account, bring it to his attention). The defense establishment has rejected the claim.
While the military has voiced opposition to the bill, Hagari’s comments were an unusually sharp rebuke of the political echelon by a military official.
“The IDF does not hide information from the political echelon. The IDF works in accordance with the political echelon for the defense of Israel,” Hagari asserted.
“The document in question was accessible to the relevant authorities in the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said, referring to the leaked classified intel. “This document was stolen from the IDF and was given to a newspaper in Germany in a manner that bypassed the [military] censor. The [intelligence] was revealed to the enemy and harmed Israel’s security.”
Hagari then said: “This law is very dangerous because it will create a situation where any junior official in the IDF can, based on his own personal judgment, steal documents or intelligence materials from the IDF.” He claimed this could put the lives of soldiers at risk.
In response, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that he would take “disciplinary action” against Hagari for his comments “as soon as possible.”
“The criticism by the IDF spokesman against the political echelon and against the legislative process in the Knesset is a grave incident and a complete deviation from his authority and what is allowed and expected of a uniformed person in a democratic regime,” Katz said.
Hagari was also reprimanded by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the military said, adding that he had “exceeded the scope of his authority” by criticizing the law.
“The IDF does not criticize the legislature but presents its position to the political echelon through the accepted mechanisms,” the military said.
Netanyahu, in a terse statement, said he was glad Halevi had disciplined Hagari.
“It is good that the IDF spokesman was put in his place to ensure that such a statement is not heard again,” he said. “In a democratic country, the military is not supposed to interfere in political matters and certainly not criticize legislation.”
Others, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister in the Defense Ministry, appeared to suggest that Hagari should be removed from his post.
“Israel is a country that has an army and not an army that has a country,” he wrote on X.
“It’s been hard to shake the feeling lately that there are people in the senior command of the IDF who do not understand these basic democratic principles. And those who do not understand this cannot remain in their positions,” he added.
In a later statement, Hagari acknowledged that his comments during the press briefing “went beyond my authority as an IDF spokesman.”
“The State of Israel is a democratic country, and the IDF is subordinate to the political echelon,” he wrote on X. “In the hundreds of statements [I’ve made] and questions I’ve answered since October 7, I have maintained decorum.”
National Unity chair Benny Gantz, himself a former IDF chief of staff, attempted to draw a line under the affair with a statement of support for Hagari, who he said “erred and apologized.”
“Rear Adm. Hagari has spoken for the IDF in wartime for over a year, and speaks to all the citizens of Israel in a dedicated and professional manner, even in the most difficult moments,” Gantz said.
“Tonight he erred and he apologized, but his integrity is not in doubt,” he added. “The manner in which he expressed himself is a matter between him and the chief of staff.”
