District court reinstates ban on Braverman contacting chief of staff

The Lod-Central District Court overturns a decision by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court that allowed key restrictive release restrictions on Tzachi Braverman to expire, despite the ongoing criminal investigation into suspicions he interfered with another investigation.

The district court rules, therefore, that all restrictive conditions that had previously been incumbent on Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, will come back into effect and remain operative until March 10.

These include a ban on Braverman contacting Netanyahu and a long list of other officials in the Prime Minister’s Office connected to the investigation, and a ban on him leaving the country, which will remain in effect until March 12 but not be extended any longer than that.

Lod-Central District Court Judge Michael Kershan adds, however, that if the police summon Braverman — who has been appointed as Israel’s next ambassador to the UK — for further questioning, he must present himself within 48 hours.

Braverman is being investigated on suspicion of interfering with an investigation and other crimes, in connection with allegations that he told Eli Feldstein, a spokesperson for Netanyahu, that he could quash a military investigation into Feldstein over the leak of a classified document to the German newspaper Bild.