Netanyahu ex-chief of staff to be indicted for obstruction of justice, pending hearing

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is set to indict Tzachi Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, on charges of obstruction of justice, fraud and breach of trust, pending a hearing, the State Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday morning.

The charges relate to a meeting Braverman held with Eli Feldstein, a media adviser to Netanyahu, in October 2024, in which Braverman allegedly informed Feldstein that there was an investigation being conducted into the leak of classified documents to the German Bild newspaper, and that he could quash the investigation if it was connected to Feldstein.

Feldstein and another key suspect were arrested several days after the meeting, and were subsequently indicted on charges of transferring classified documentation, among others, relating to the leak of the documents to Bild.

His lawyers said in response to the announcement that the attorney general’s decision was “a mistake that continues the severe injustice that has already been done to Mr. Braverman.”

Braverman has been designated as Israel’s next ambassador to the United Kingdom, but the ongoing investigation into the affair has prevented him from taking up the appointment. (Netanyahu’s new chief of staff, Ido Norden, took up the post in mid-April, following the brief tenure of Braverman’s successor Ziv Agmon.)

British officials recently informed Israel through unofficial channels that the United Kingdom does not currently intend to approve Braverman’s diplomatic credentials while legal proceedings against him remain unresolved, Channel 13 reported, citing diplomatic sources.

According to the report, the officials said that while London was willing to accept Braverman when he was nominated around nine months ago, its position has shifted in light of the legal proceedings.

Approval of diplomatic credentials is formally granted on behalf of the British monarchy following recommendations from the UK Foreign Office, the Channel 13 report noted, saying one diplomatic source has said Israel may ultimately need to consider appointing a different candidate.

An Israeli official, however, told the Hebrew network that Braverman could still take up the post even if indicted and would only leave in the event of a conviction.

The British embassy in Israel and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

The Bild affair was triggered by the execution of six Israeli hostages at the hands of their Hamas captors at the end of August 2024, an event that sparked massive public uproar against the government.

Feldstein has said he leaked the document to the newspaper in order to buttress Netanyahu’s claims that it was Hamas, not the prime minister, who was holding up a deal to release the hostages held by the terror group in Gaza. It was leaked to a foreign news outlet in order to bypass Israel’s military censor.

In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster in December last year, Feldstein alleged that Netanyahu was aware and supportive of his efforts to make use of the classified intelligence in order to sway public opinion against a hostage-release deal at the time.

Critics saw Netanyahu as the obstacle to hostage negotiations due to his perceived prioritization of an amorphous “total victory” against Hamas at the expense of the captives’ lives.

Feldstein, as the prime minister’s media adviser, sought to combat that public perception and came up with the plan to leak the classified document to the press to do so. Jonathan Urich, another aide to Netanyahu, is also expected to be indicted over the affair.

The pending charges against Braverman deal with what he allegedly told Feldstein during a late-night meeting the two held in an underground parking lot in the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv about an investigation into the leak.

The State Attorney’s Office said that after Braverman discovered there was an undercover investigation into the leak, he called Feldstein and told him to meet him in the parking lot.

Braverman got into Feldstein’s car and read him several names he had written down, including that of Ari Rosenfeld, a reservist IDF non-commissioned officer, and other possible targets of the investigation.

According to the State Attorney’s Office, Braverman asked Feldstein if the investigation might be targeting Feldstein, and said that if so, he could quash it.

“Is it connected to you? Connected to us? Because if so, I can close it down,” Braverman allegedly told Feldstein. Feldstein said it was not connected to him, and the meeting ended.

Braverman’s attorneys said that the indictment relied on Feldstein’s testimony and called him “a false witness who was motivated by ulterior motives.”

His legal team said it was “very surprising” that the State Attorney’s Office was basing its indictment on Feldstein’s testimony, when the State Attorney’s Office itself has filed an indictment against the former Netanyahu aide over the Bild leak, in which it rejected Feldstein’s version of events.

“In this instance, too, he gave a host of contradictory and false versions,” said Braverman’s lawyers.

Feldstein is also a suspect in the Qatargate investigation in which he and other advisers to Netanyahu are accused of taking money to spearhead a pro-Qatari public relations campaign during the war with Hamas, which Qatar has supported, while at the same time working for the prime minister.