Ex-aide to PM told Shin Bet he wouldn’t reveal official’s name out of fears for safety — report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s beleaguered former spokesman Eli Feldstein told the Shin Bet during an investigation into leaks of classified intelligence that he resisted revealing the name of a senior official out of fear for his and his family’s safety, Channel 12 reports.

He recently revealed that Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, was the senior official who asked to meet him in the underground parking lot of the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters. There, Braverman disclosed that the IDF’s information security department had launched a probe into the leak of the classified intelligence and that the list of suspects went as high as the Prime Minister’s Office.

However, while being investigated by the Shin Bet, Feldstein said that “there are only two people who know the content of this conversation, I have to think about the future,” according to Channel 12.

“If the Pandora’s Box is opened, if I open my mouth,” Feldstein allegedly said of the conversation with Braverman, “I will have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.”

“Neither the Shin Bet nor any other body will be able to protect my family or me from being harmed,” he said, according to Channel 12.

Feldstein begged the investigators not to try to figure out who the senior figure is, says the network.

Feldstein told investigators that the parking garage cameras would not have picked up the conversation since it was held in an area without cameras, according to the report. He also changed his story about the type of car he was driving, and said there was no electronic record of his entering the Kirya since he only showed his card to a guard.

Feldstein also told investigators that 2-3 others were also present for the conversation, but were not close enough to hear. He also refused to say if they were senior officials as well, the report said.