Feldstein decided to stop taking the fall for Netanyahu over document leak, attorney says

The lawyer representing Eli Feldstein, the aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicted over the alleged theft and leak of classified documents, says his client decided to stop taking the fall for the premier and his office.

“There was a stage in the investigation where he decided to stop taking the fall for the Prime Minister and his office,” attorney Oded Savoray tells the Kan public broadcaster, referring to Feldstein’s assertion that Netanyahu knew about the document before it was published in German tabloid Bild.

“[Feldstein] did not say that Netanyahu ordered the document to be released to foreign media, but that he knew about the document and the decision to release it to the media.” Savoray says.

Kan has reported, without citing sources, that Feldstein said he notified the prime minister two days before he leaked the document to Bild.

Feldstein, a spokesman who worked closely with Netanyahu over the last year, was charged last month with transferring classified information with the intent to harm state security, a charge that can carry a sentence of life in prison, as well as illicit possession of classified information and obstruction of justice.

The case is centered around the alleged leak of a highly classified document to Bild in September, which ostensibly detailed Hamas’s priorities and tactics in hostage negotiations.

Netanyahu has sought to distance himself from the case, insisting that he only learned about the existence of the classified document from the media.