Court removes arrest restrictions on Bild affair suspects

The Tel Aviv District Court removes all restrictive conditions from Eli Feldstein and Ari Rosenfeld, who were indicted on charges of transferring classified information, in the so-called Bild affair, and criticizes the police over the lack of progress in the legal process in the case.

Feldstein, a former media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Rosenfeld, a reservist in military intelligence, were held in detention for lengthy periods of time before and after being indicted, after which they were released to house arrest, which was later eased to partial house arrest and a requirement to be accompanied out of their homes.

Judge Ala Masarwa says pointedly in his decision to remove all remaining restrictions that it has been over a year since the two men were indicted without any advancement in the legal proceedings against them, demonstrating, he argued, that they apparently no longer posed a danger to state security.

“It seems that a whole year has passed without any noticeable progress in the main proceedings,” writes Masarwa, adding that the possibility that another suspect, Jonatan Urich, would be indicted could have further implications on the indictment of Feldstein and Rosenfeld, “all of which paint a bleak picture regarding the possibility of advancing the case in the foreseeable future.”

The judge also says that since neither man would return to their former place of work and the circumstances in which they are able to obtain classified documents would not arise again, there was little need to keep them under house arrest.

Feldstein and Rosenfeld were charged with leaking a classified document to the German tabloid, Bild, in September 2024, which ostensibly detailed Hamas’s priorities and tactics in hostage negotiations.

The document was allegedly unlawfully removed from the IDF’s military intelligence database by Rosenfeld, who gave it to Feldstein, who then saw to it that it was transferred to Bild.

Feldstein is accused of leaking the document in order to influence public opinion on negotiations for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in a more favorable direction for his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.