Police said to suspect PM’s top aide took 30 classified records to shape Oct. 7 narrative

Police reportedly believe Tzachi Braverman improperly removed records on security discussions about Gaza held before Oct. 7 by both Netanyahu and Bennett-Lapid governments

By Nava Freiberg
  • Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, attends a Memorial Day ceremony commemorating fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terror at Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery, in Tel Aviv, April 21, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Police reportedly have evidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, improperly removed some 30 classified records of security discussions from the Prime Minister’s Office, allegedly in an effort to shape the narrative surrounding the failures leading up to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre.

The records allegedly include discussions concerning Gaza held before October 7, under both Netanyahu’s government and the preceding Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government, according to the unsourced Channel 12 news report on Sunday.

The report came a day after Channel 12 aired transcripts that appeared to show Braverman tried to persuade a stenographer to falsify the prime minister’s phone records from the morning of October 7 and was told twice that doing so was illegal.

Braverman then reportedly changed the stated time at which Netanyahu first received an update on Hamas’s invasion via phone call from the premier’s then-military secretary Avi Gil, from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m.

Last week, Gil gave a pair of interviews in which he accused Braverman of tampering with the records in the months after the October 7 atrocities, confirming that he was informed of Braverman’s desire to change the timestamp by a Prime Minister’s Office stenographer.

Hebrew media reported on Friday that police believe they have gathered sufficient evidence to charge Braverman with tampering with the records from the day of the October 7 massacre.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, speaks with his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, July 30, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)

But the Haaretz daily quoted sources who said the chances that Braverman would be charged appeared low, as it would be legally difficult to disprove his claim that the change he made to records was a mistake rather than intentional.

Braverman also faces an indictment for obstruction of justice, fraud, and breach of trust in connection with a separate scandal over the leak of classified documents. Due to those allegations, he has been unable to take up the post of Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, for which he was designated.

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