Netanyahu decries ‘witch hunt’ against him, insists aide Feldstein wouldn’t knowingly harm Israel

In a nearly nine-minute video statement that represents his most strident criticism of the ongoing investigation into the theft and leak of stolen IDF documents involving his office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is a “witch hunt” against him and his advisers, and against his unofficial spokesman Eli Feldstein, whom he insists would never knowingly harm Israel.

“This reality, in which young people are held like the worst terrorists, handcuffed for days, days in which they are prevented from accessing their lawyers, and violating their basic rights as citizens, deeply shocks me,” he says in the video statement.

Feldstein was charged on Thursday with transferring classified information with the intent to harm the state, for allegedly leaking a document to a German newspaper. This charge can carry a sentence of life in prison, as well as illicit possession of classified information and obstruction of justice.

“It hurts that they are using your sons as a tool to harm me and an entire political camp,” he says to the families of Feldstein and an IDF non-commissioned officer, who was also charged in the case on Thursday.

Netanyahu says that the charges that they tried to harm Israel’s security are “despicable” and “ridiculous.”

“I know Eli Feldstein,” he says. “We are talking about an Israeli patriot, a passionate Zionist.”

“There is no chance that he would do something to intentionally harm the country’s security.”

The premier also denies allegations of blackmail against an officer in his military secretariat and argues that the “witch hunt” against his aides also targets Israelis who support him.

He says that the conditions of Feldstein’s arrest and ongoing detention for more than three weeks could break anyone and force them to admit to crimes they didn’t commit. “If masked men come to you in the night, place you under arrest, isolate and handcuff you and threaten you with live imprisonment if you don’t give them what they want, a man can break and admit to the murder of Arlosoroff,” he says.

He says Feldstein and the second suspect have been held “like the worst terrorists,” denied access to lawyers for part of the time, with basic rights breached.

When someone who has done more than 200 days in the reserves is so broken as to say, “‘It’s better that I die than live’, it shocks me and I’m sure it shocks you,” Netanyahu says.

Netanyahu also claims that vital classified documents weren’t getting to him, which is why the suspects passed them from the IDF to the PMO: “I am the prime minister. I need to receive important classified documents, and indeed sometimes important information doesn’t reach me.”

As he has in the past, Netanyahu laments severe leaks that were not investigated, claiming that these leaks from sensitive cabinet meetings endangered soldiers and the lives of hostages.

Turning to the Israeli public — who say is not about to be fooled by the selective prosecution of leaks — he says that the country “is fighting on seven fronts. And we are also fighting on this front.”