Gag order lifted: Ari Rosenfeld is IDF reservist charged in PM’s office documents leak scandal

Aaron “Ari” Rosenfeld is the second suspect charged in the Prime Minister’s Office security documents theft and leak scandal.

The IDF reservist’s name can now be published after the Tel Aviv District Court yesterday lifted a gag order, at the suspect’s request.

According to Hebrew media reports, Rosenfeld lives in Bnei Brak and is married with a toddler.

The State Prosecution waives its prerogative to appeal the ruling, despite previously opposing the move over concerns that it would inevitably lead to the revealing of other secret information to which the intelligence soldier had access during his service.

Details such as Rosenfeld’s rank, the material he dealt with, his military past, and his area of expertise remain prohibited from publication.

He was charged last month with transferring classified information, an offense that is punishable by seven years in prison, as well as theft by an authorized person and obstruction of justice, together with Eli Feldstein, an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The allegations surround the alleged leak of a highly classified document to the German tabloid Bild in September, which ostensibly detailed Hamas’s priorities and tactics in hostage negotiations (though it later became apparent the document was written by lower-level officials in the terror group and did not necessarily reflect the leadership’s position).

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.

Rosenfeld is still in custody, while Feldstein has been released to house arrest.