Netanyahu decries harsh treatment of ex-aide charged with leaking secrets

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

People protest in support of Eli Feldstein and the Israeli soldier accused of leaking classified documents outside the Tel Aviv District Court, November 27, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
People protest in support of Eli Feldstein and the Israeli soldier accused of leaking classified documents outside the Tel Aviv District Court, November 27, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decries the treatment of his former aide Eli Feldstein and an IDF non-commissioned officer who have both been charged with leaking military documents.

“They come to their homes with 15 people with their guns drawn, faces covered, and take them into solitary confinement. I heard the testimony from Feldstein’s brothers, I was horrified,” Netanyahu says in his interview with Channel 14.

“They hold him in a room with the lights on for 24 hours, handcuffed, blindfolded, 18 to 20 hours of interrogation like he is an arch-terrorist,” the prime minister says about the testimony.

“Engineering all sorts of questions and asking him just one thing, they want to break him. To break him, and we’ve seen this before, to break him so he will give false testimony, and will say he has turned state witness against Netanyahu.”

“I’d like to hear all the warriors for human rights speaking on this,” he says. “The State of Israel cannot operate like this. We are a democratic state. We are a country with rights. We are a country with certain norms, and this thing is an absolute outrage.”

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