Report: Senior IDF officer questioned on suspicion of passing Bild leak probe details to PM’s office

A senior officer who served under former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi was questioned under caution yesterday on suspicion of passing details of the Bild leak affair investigation to the Prime Minister’s Office, Channel 12 news reports.

Aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are suspected of leaking classified intelligence to the German tabloid in the summer of 2024 in order to influence Israeli public opinion over hostage negotiations with Hamas.

Channel 12 says the officer was questioned on suspicion of leaking to Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman that an investigation was underway, and is suspected of passing a list of names to the PMO of those suspected of leaking the documents to Bild.

The report says the individual now serves in a senior and sensitive position in the IDF. His home was searched, and his cellphone was seized, the outlet says.

Halevi, who led the military at the time that the classified documents were leaked, was questioned on Wednesday by investigators. He is not a suspect in the affair and was not questioned under caution, according to Hebrew media reports.

Channel 12 says Halevi told the investigators that while the unnamed officer was the pointman with the PMO and in contact with Braverman, he does not believe that the officer leaked information.

The Bild affair was triggered by 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.