Reservist accused in PM’s office leaks case files new request for release from jail

The IDF reservist named in a scandal surrounding allegations that documents were leaked from the military to a German newspaper via political operatives linked to the Prime Minister’s Office has asked the court to reconsider its decision to deny him bail, the Walla news site reports.

The filing Tuesday is based on a new assessment that found the suspect, Aaron Rosenfeld, was unlikely to attempt to repeat his alleged crime. An earlier professional assessment had come to the opposite conclusion, underpinning the decision to keep him in jail until the end of legal proceedings, Walla reports.

The document filed by Rosenfeld’s lawyers also argues that his mental state is deteriorating behind bars, noting that prison officials have decided to house him in a supervised cell “open and transparent to everyone’s eyes, and under 24-hour surveillance.”

Rosenfeld, whose name was unsealed Monday, 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 who has since been released to house arrest.

He is suspected of unlawfully removing a document appearing to show Hamas uninterested in a hostage deal from the IDF’s military intelligence database and giving it to Feldstein, who then saw to it that it was transferred to German newspaper Bild.