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Sunday, March 9, 2025
Smotrich reportedly suspected of receiving information from IDF mole
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Cabinet members suspect that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has a mole in the IDF, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
Citing sources in the cabinet and the defense establishment, the outlet reports that Smotrich has shown up to cabinet meetings with specific information on plans from the IDF Southern Command, some of which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not even know.
Smotrich is a minister in the Defense Ministry in addition to his role as finance minister.
“We saw Smotrich show up sometimes at cabinet meetings with printed presentations from the army, and present information that was not revealed in the cabinet,” says a cabinet source.
The sources name Brig. Gen. (res.) Erez Winner, who commands the operational planning team in the Southern Command. Winner, a former aide de camp to then-IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi, was accused over a decade ago of illegally collecting and secretly distributing materials aimed at defaming IDF officials as well as senior politicians as part of an internal succession battle.
During the 2014 Gaza war, Winner was also accused of feeding information to Naftali Bennett, then a political partner of Smotrich, about IDF deployments and findings via an unapproved backchannel.
The Times of Israel Community.