Former IDF chief Herzi Halevi called to give testimony in Bild leak affair

Former IDF chief Herzi Halevi has been summoned to give testimony in the Bild affair, in which aides to the prime minister are suspected of leaking classified intelligence to the German tabloid in summer 2024 in order to influence Israeli public opinion about hostage negotiations with Hamas.

Additionally, in recent days Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, has been questioned over suspicions he attempted to obstruct the investigation into the leak.

Netanyahu’s former spokesman and the key suspect in the Bild leak affair, Eli Feldstein, alleged last month that Braverman knew of a covert investigation into the leak months before it was publicized and had assured Feldstein that he’d be able to quash the probe.

In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster last month, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet him late at night in an underground parking lot in the Kirya military headquarters, where he informed him that the IDF had launched an investigation into the leak.

The Bild affair followed the execution of six Israeli hostages at the hands of their Hamas captors, when Israeli troops approached the tunnel where they were located in the southern Gaza city of Rafah at the end of August 2024. The execution sparked massive public uproar against the government, which critics saw as the obstacle in ceasefire negotiations due to Netanyahu’s perceived prioritization of an amorphous “total victory” over Hamas at the expense of hostages’ lives. The document leaked to Bild appeared to be an attempt by Netanyahu’s office to shift the blame for the failure of talks to Hamas.